WOOTTON
Wootton is an English surname of locational origin, deriving from the Old English words wudu meaning 'wood' and tun meaning 'enclosure' or 'settlement'. The name therefore denotes a person who lived near or within a settlement by the woods, or who hailed from one of the many place‑names called Wootton or Wotton across England.
The earliest written record of the place name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where the location in Bedfordshire is recorded as Otone. By the late twelfth century the name had evolved to the form Wutton, as seen in the Feet of Fines of 1197. The surname itself first appears in mid‑eleventeenth‑century documents, with individuals such as Robert de Wodeton mentioned in the 1242 Liber Feodorum of Shropshire, John de Wutton in the 1256 Assize Rolls of Northumberland and John ate Wodeton recorded in the 1275 Hundred Rolls of Middlesex. In 1316 Gilbert de la Wotton is noted in Worcestershire, illustrating the gradual anglicisation of the spelling. The very first documented instance of the family name, according to Old English Bynames, is that of Wagen de Wotton dated 1048 in Warwickshire, a period under the reign of King Edward the Confessor.
Throughout the Early Modern period the Woottons expanded their influence, acquiring land and status in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire. By the fifteenth century the family produced Sir William Wootton, Member of Parliament for Leicestershire, High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and a key military officer for King Richard III. The name has long been associated with loyalty to the Crown and a number of its bearers have served in prominent public roles such as High Sheriff, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant. The artistic branch of the family is represented by John Wootton (1668–1765), a celebrated animal and landscape painter renowned for his portraiture of racehorses at Newmarket.
In modern times the surname remains common throughout England, Wales and Australia. It ranked as the sixty‑third most frequent surname in England during the 1881 Census, with 4,071 recorded bearers; this figure has almost certainly grown since. In Wales the name is considerably rarer, with only 42 people recorded in the 2016 Census, representing 0.001 per cent of the population. In Australia the surname appears as the fifty‑first most common, according to Ancestry.com, with many families associated with Queensland and New South Wales. The historic spread of the name has produced a variety of spelling variants, including Wooten, Wotton, Wooton, Wootten and Wouten, some of which arose from regional dialectal differences or the influence of Dutch settlers in the seventeenth century.
Overall, the Wootton surname conveys a long history rooted in the English landscape, a tradition of service to the Crown and a continuity that has endured across centuries and continents.
Typical given names associated with the Wootton surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Claire
- Emma
- Helen
- Julie
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
- Wooton
- Wootten
- Wooten
- Wotton
- Wootoon
- Wadan
- Wadden
- Waddin
- Waddon
- Waden
- Wadin
- Wadon
- Waeton
- Wahdan
- Waiden
- Waiton
- Watana
- Waten
- Watine
- Watne
- Waton
- Wattan
- Watteen
- Watten
- Wattin
- Watton
- Wauton
- Wayton
- Weaden
- Weadon
- Weaton
- Weatten
- Wedan
- Wedden
- Weddon
- Weden
- Wedin
- Wedon
- Weedan
- Weeden
- Weedin
- Weedon
- Weeton
- Wehden
- Weiden
- Weidon
- Weton
- Wettan
- Wetten
- Wetton
- Wettone
- Whaddon
- Whaiton
- Whaton
- Whattan
- Whatten
- Whatton
- Wheaden
- Wheadon
- Wheaten
- Wheaton
- Wheatten
- Wheddon
- Wheden
- Whedon
- Wheeden
- Wheedon
- Wheeton
- Whetan
- Wheten
- Wheton
- Whettan
- Whetten
- Whetton
- Whidden
- Whiddon
- Whitan
- Whiten
- Whitin
- Whitine
- Whiton
- Whittan
- Whitten
- Whittin
- Whitton
- Whittone
- Whotton
- Widden
- Widdon
- Widen
- Wieden
- Witon
- Witten
- Wittin
- Wittine
- Witton
- Woadden
- Woden
- Woodan
- Woodden
- Wooddine
- Wooden
- Woodin
- Woodine
- Wootan
- Wootom
- Woottan
- Woottin
- Woten
- Wotten
- Woyton
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Wootton in...
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There are approximately 6,964 people named Wootton in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,353rd most common surname in Britain. Around 107 in a million people in Britain are named Wootton.
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 Wootton
- Marc Wootton - Comedian
- Scott Wootton - Football player
- Kyle Wootton - Football player
- David Wootton - 684th Lord Mayor of London
- Jeff Wootton - Guitarist
- Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger - Baroness (1897 to 1988)
- Brenda Wootton - Cornish poet and singer (1928 to 1994)
- Len Wootton - Football player (1925 to 1990)
- Billy Wootton - Football player (1904 to 1)
- David Wootton - Historian of science
- Jamie Wootton - Football player
- Simon Wootton - Cricketer
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.