English: habitational name from any of the various places called Beeston (the more common form of the family name in England). Most of them, for example those in Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, and West Yorkshire, are named with Old English bēos ‘rough grass’ + tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. The one in Cheshire is probably named with Old English byge ‘trade’, ‘commerce’ + stān ‘stone’, meaning ‘rock where a market was held’. A few other Beestons have different derivations.

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