Hunston

This is a very interesting English locational surname. It is dialectal slang, being the accepted form of the name of the town of Hunstanton, in the county of Norfolk, the place itself being known almost everywhere as "Hunston or Hunstone". In fact it would seem that there is no such surname as Hunstanton, such is the prominence of the fused form. Not surprisingly perhaps, the surname is quite rare and does no seem to appear in any of the known publically available research books on surnames. Locational surnames by their very nature are usually "from" names. That is to say name given to people after they left their native village or town, and moved elsewhere. This could be the next village or far away in the city of London, but in either case the easiest way to identify such a person was to call him or sometimes her by the name of the place from whence they came. This surname is quite well recorded in its native county from at least the Elizabethan period, with Agnes Hunstone marrying William Richardson at Catfield, Norfolk, on February 15th 1564, whilst far away in the "bright lights" George Hunstone married Ann Aldwark at St Brides church, Fleet Street, in the city of London, on November 28th 1638.