Dalton surname meaning

Dalton is a habitational surname from numerous English places named Dalton or related forms. Their Old English elements are commonly read as a valley or dale plus a settlement or farm, giving the useful catalog gloss “valley settlement.” Daulton and Dalston may reflect later spelling or separate local formations. Because several independent localities share the same place-name structure, a Dalton family cannot be assigned to one village from the surname alone. The geographic origin itself is stable, so the catalog uses place with high confidence.