Ashton

English: habitational name from any of the numerous places so called, especially Ashton-under-Lyne near Manchester. Most are named from Old English æsc ‘ash tree’ + tūn ‘settlement’; the one in Northamptonshire is (æt þǣm) æscum ‘(at the) ash trees’. Others have been assimilated to this from different sources. The one in Devon is ‘the settlement (tūn) of Æschere’, while the one in Hertfordshire is ‘the settlement of Ælli’.

See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.