Orton Family History

English: habitational name from any of various places called Orton in Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Westmorland. All those in England share a second element from Old English tūn ‘enclosure, settlement’, but the first element in each case is more difficult to determine.

Examples in Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire are on the banks of rivers, so these are probably derived from Old English ōfer ‘riverbank’; in other cases, it is impossible to distinguish between ofer ‘ridge’ and ufera ‘upper’. Orton in Westmorland is probably formed with the Old Norse byname Orri ‘black-cock’ (the male black grouse).

Orton near Fochabers, Scotland, is of uncertain etymology. Americanized form of Norwegian Årtun: habitational name from the farm name Årtun found in six places, e.g., in the province of Rogaland, a compound of the genitive case singular of Old Norse á ‘small river’ and tún ‘farm yard (surrounded by buildings)’.