Stourton

Recorded in several spellings including Stourton, the family name of the Barons Stourton, Stirton, Sterton, Sturton, and probably others, this is an English surname. It several possible origins. Firstly and most likely, it is of English locational origin. If so it may be from the village of Storeton, also recorded as Stourton, in the county of Cheshire. This place is recorded Stortone in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, or from the various places called Stourton found in Yorkshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and Lincolnshire, or from Sturton in Lincolnshire. All have much the same meaning of 'The big village' from the pre 7th century Norse word 'storr', meaning big and 'tun', homestead or village. Another possible origin is from the word "stortone", a medieval nickname of French origins, for a crippled or deformed person. In ancient times attitudes were best described as ' very robust'. Political correctness meant nothing in the brutal life of Merrie Old England. If you were unfortunate enough to be crippled, then too bad, that is what you were called. This attitude has survived in the famous surname of Cruckshank, which means bent bones. In this case the surname is first recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London church records in 1476 when Margaret Stourton married James Chedletch at St. Margaret's, Westminster, whilst Edward Stirton was christened at the same church, on September 13th 1553. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas de Sturton. This was dated 1216, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Wiltshire, during the reign of King Henry 111rd, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.