Hunton

This is an English locational surname. It originates from all or any of the three villages called Hunton to be found in a triangle across the country. The first is in the county of Kent, the second in Hampshire, and the third near the market town of Bedale in North Yorkshire, and near to what used to be called from Roman times until the 1950's, 'The Great North Road'. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Place names, the meaning is the place (kennels?) where hounds were kept. This is from the Olde English pre 7th century 'hunda-tun'. The explanation seems logical in that whole areas of the country were kept specifically for the sport of hunting, and certainly the place in Yorkshire is on the edge of the Dales. This was an area in which the medieval nobility sported in great numbers, and in some cases still do. The surname being locational is a 'from' name. That is to say a name given to a person because they had left their former home, and moved somewhere else. As easy identification they took, or were given, the name of their former home. The Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire contain the entry of Roger de Hunton in 1379, whilst in 1585, Richard Hunton of Wiltshire, appears on the list of students of Oxford University.