LITTLETON
Littleton is a surname of English origin that derives from a locational name. It is composed of two Old English elements: lytel meaning “little” and tun meaning “settlement” or “enclosure”. The literal meaning of the name is therefore “small settlement”.
The place names that give rise to the surname are recorded in several counties of England, including Worcestershire (North, Middle and South Littleton), Gloucestershire (Littleton on Severn and West Littleton), Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. The earliest documentary evidence of the place name appears in the Saxon Chartulary dated 709‑860, where the entries show forms such as “Litletona”, “Lytletun” and “Lytlen tunes”. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the Gloucestershire site is recorded as “Litentune”.
Locational surnames such as Littleton developed in the Middle Ages when people who moved from one area to another were identified by the name of their former residence. Thus anyone who moved from a Littleton and settled elsewhere might be described as “John de Lytelton” or “Michael de Lutelton”. Example entries in the historical record include Michael de Lutelton in Wiltshire in 1273 and John Lytelton in Nottinghamshire in 1416. The spelling Lyttleton is attested in Worcestershire from 1358, and the family built Hagley Hall in that county.
Prominent early figures bearing the surname include Sir Thomas Littleton (1422‑1481), a distinguished jurist and Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1447. His treatise on “Tenures”, written in law‑French, is regarded as the principal authority on English real property law. Sir Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Littleton (1589‑1645), served as Recorder of London in 1631. The very first recorded spelling of the family name is Driu de Litletun, dated 1210 in the Pipe Rolls of Wiltshire during the reign of King John, known as “Lackland”.
Over the centuries the surname has appeared in a variety of spellings. Variants include Littelton, Litelton, Litilton, Lyttleton and Lutelton. Less common forms such as Littyton, Liteon, Litton and Littlen also occur, though they may not share the same lineage. In modern usage “Little” can also be a surname in its own right, frequently arising from a nickname referring to a small person; however, this is distinct from the locational surname Littleton.
In contemporary distribution data the name Littleton is found in the United Kingdom, particularly in the West Midlands, as well as in Canada and Australia. In the United States it appears to be most common in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, where it was ranked the 3,919th most common surname in 2014 according to Forebears.
Typical given names associated with the Littleton surname
Male
- Alan
- David
- James
- John
- Jonathan
- Mark
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Stephen
- William
Female
- Anne
- Fiona
- Joanne
- Karen
- Kathleen
- Laura
- Linda
- Louise
- Marilyn
- Mary
- Pamela
- Sarah
- Zoe
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Littleton in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 715 people named Littleton in the UK. That makes it roughly the 9,550th most common surname in Britain. Around 11 in a million people in Britain are named Littleton.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
