Horton surname meaning

Horton is an English habitational surname from the many places called Horton. Traditional place-name analysis connects the first element with Old English horh, “mud” or “slime,” or a related form such as horn, plus tūn, “settlement” or “enclosure.” The landscape detail is less certain than the place-name formation itself, and multiple English counties have Hortons. Older spellings include Hortone and Hortun. Place is the high-confidence catalog type because the surname is geographic, while a particular Horton family still requires records to identify its original locality.