SUTTON
The surname Sutton is of English origin and belongs to the class of locational names derived from geographical features. It is formed from the Old English elements sūð meaning “south” and tūn meaning “settlement”, “enclosure” or “village”. Consequently the name denotes a person who originated from, or lived in, a southern settlement, or from a place whose name incorporated the component “Sutton”.
Place‑names of this type are widespread throughout the British Isles, and several examples occur in the historic records of England. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village now known as Sutton in Bedfordshire appears as “Sudtone”. Similar forms such as “Ketel de Sudtone” are recorded for Lincolnshire in the same survey. The use of the prefix “de”, meaning “of”, is evident in later documents, for instance the 1379 Poll Tax records of Yorkshire, where the surname is rendered “de Sutton”.
Early bearers of the name include Alnod Suttuna, recorded in Cambridgeshire in 1086, and Oliver Sutton, who served as Bishop of Lincoln from 1280 until his death in 1299 and participated in the resistance to Edward I’s taxation. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the surname is associated with figures such as Thomas Sutton (1532‑1611), the founder of the Charterhouse in London and reputed to be the wealthiest commoner of his day, and Robert Sutton (1594‑1668), the first Baron Lexington who supported Charles I during the Civil War. Families bearing the name were granted a total of forty‑nine coats of arms.
Today the surname Sutton remains common in English‑speaking countries, reflecting its deep roots in the Anglo‑Saxon settlement pattern and its continuous presence in documentary sources from the Norman Conquest to the present.
Typical given names associated with the Sutton surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Claire
- Deborah
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jennifer
- Julie
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
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 Sutton in...
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Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Sutton are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Ginger Nut.
There are approximately 35,518 people named Sutton in the UK. That makes it the 217th most common surname in Britain. Around 545 in a million people in Britain are named Sutton.
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 Sutton
- Chris Sutton - Football player and manager
- Dudley Sutton - Actor (1933 to 2018)
- John Sutton - Football player
- Sarah Sutton - Actress
- John Sutton - Actor in Hollywood (1908 to 1963)
- Colin Sutton - Police chief (1938 to 2004)
- Antony C. Sutton - Writer (1925 to 2002)
- Stephen Sutton - Activist (1994 to 2014)
- Richard Sutton - Stage and screen actor
- Mike Sutton - Football player
- Steve Sutton - Football player, coach
- Graham Sutton - Musician
- Julia Sutton - Actress
- Shaun Sutton - Television director (1919 to 2004)
- Thomas Sutton - Photographer, author and inventor (1819 to 1875)
- Mark Sutton - Stuntman (1971 to 2013)
- Ashley Sutton -
- Charles Manners-Sutton, 1st Viscount Canterbury - Politician (1780 to 1845)
- Ryan Sutton - Rugby league player
- May Sutton - US tennis player (1886 to 1975)
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.