MOULTON
Moulton is a surname of English origin, classified as a locational name that indicates a connection to a place of the same name. The name is derived from the Old English word mōltūn, meaning a farmstead by the mill, which suggests that early bearers lived near or worked at a mill.
Several English localities bearing the name Moulton are recorded, including places in Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Yorkshire. These place‑names are generally thought to be composed of the pre‑7th‑century personal name Mula – interpreted as “the mule” – combined with the suffix -tun, meaning an enclosure or settlement. In some instances the names may have originally described farms where mules were raised or kept.
Domesday Book entries from 1086 record the place as Moletune, Multune, Muletuna and Moltun. The earliest documented instance of the surname itself dates to the late tenth century, when Aelfgar de Muletune is recorded in the Book of the Abbey of Ely, Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Edward – the Martyr (975‑978).
Later medieval entries include Thomas Moulton, who appears on the University of Oxford register in 1591, and William Moulton, who married Elizabeth Brocket at St. Peter's, Cornhill, London, on 23 June 1623.
The surname has several orthographic variants, such as Molten, Molton and Moulten. The spelling has remained largely stable within the United Kingdom, but in the United States variations such as Moultonne and Moulthun can also be encountered.
In contemporary statistics, the name remains most common outside the United Kingdom. According to the United States Census 2014, more than 17 500 people carried the surname Moulton, with a concentration in the New England and Northeastern states – especially Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Maine.
Historically, many Moultons emigrated from England to the American colonies around 1630, a period during which the surname was first recorded in substantial numbers in the United States. While the family is believed to have an early association with the Normans in England and a tradition of service to the crown, only documentary evidence supports these claims; no definitive conclusions can be drawn beyond the recorded migration.
The surname Moulton is not confined to the United Kingdom. Present‑day bearers can also be found in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and, to a lesser extent, in the southern United States, where spellings such as Moulten and Moultonne are occasionally encountered.
Typical given names associated with the Moulton surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Barbara
- Carolyn
- Helen
- Jacqueline
- Jane
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
- Victoria
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 Moulton in...
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There are approximately 2,947 people named Moulton in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,026th most common surname in Britain. Around 45 in a million people in Britain are named Moulton.
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
Famous people named Moulton
- Jon Moulton - Businessman
- Hugh Moulton - Barrister and politician (1876 to 1962)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.