Frequency: (351)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. French and English: from Old French bastun ‘stick’, hence a nickname for a person of authority, an officious person, or perhaps for a beadle or verger.
2. English: habitational name from Baston in Lincolnshire, named with the Old Norse personal name Bak + Old English tūn ‘farmstead’.
GIVEN NAMES: French 5%. Andree (2), Almira, Pierre.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
