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Fenton Family History

Fenton Surname Meaning

English: habitational name from any of various places in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire, so called from Old English fenn ‘marsh, fen’ + tūn ‘enclosure, settlement’.

Irish: English surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Fionnachta or Ó Fiachna ‘descendant of Fiachna’, an old personal name Anglicized as Feighney and sometimes mistranslated as Hunt (see Fee 1 and Finnerty).

Scottish: habitational name from Fenton in East Lothian.

Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames, for example, Finkelstein.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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Where is the Fenton family from?

You can see how Fenton families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Fenton family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Fenton families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. In 1911 there were 233 Fenton families living in Ontario. This was about 47% of all the recorded Fenton's in Canada. Ontario had the highest population of Fenton families in 1911.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Fenton surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
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What did your Fenton ancestors do for a living?

In 1921, Farmer and Stenographer were the top reported jobs for men and women in the Canada named Fenton. 42% of Fenton men worked as a Farmer and 15% of Fenton women worked as a Stenographer. Some less common occupations for Americans named Fenton were Clerk and Saleslady.

View Census Data for Fenton | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1921

  • Farmer
    42%
  • Labourer
    12%
  • Laborer
    9%
  • Clerk
    6%

Top Female Occupations In 1921

  • Stenographer
    15%
  • Housekeeper
    15%
  • Teacher
    10%
  • Saleslady
    10%

What Fenton family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 210,000 census records available for the last name Fenton. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Fenton census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search Canadian census records for Fenton

Passenger Lists

There are 27,000 immigration records available for the last name Fenton. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in Canada, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Fenton immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 27,000 military records available for the last name Fenton. For the veterans among your Fenton ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

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