This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Haughton,' or 'Halghton,' but found in a variety of forms; compare Greenhalgh or Ridehalgh, both North-English surnames, variants of which are Greenough and Riddeough. We also find Featherstonhalgh for Feathcrstonhaugh. There are endless towns, villages, hamlets, and small localities bearing the name of Haughton or Houghton in England; v. Halgh and Haugh.

John de Haleghton, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Alexander de Houhton, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Richard de Howton, Lincolnshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

William de Halghton, Northumberland, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Matilda de Halghton, huswyf, webster, 1370: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Willelmus de Halghton, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Thomas Houghton, of Houghton, 1621: Wills at Chester.

Ellen Houghton, of Houghton, widow, 1647: ibid.

Belonging to Haughton = Haugh (q.v.), esp. 1 + -ton, Old English tún, a farm, estate, village.

Great Haughton and Little Haughton in Durham are respectively Halctona and Halghtona in the Boldon Book.

Haughton, Staffs, was the Domesday Haltone, 13th cent. Halec(h)ton.

Cp. Houghton.

This English toponymic, quite common in Ireland as such, has also been used as an anglicized form of Ó hEacháin, recte Haghan; and even of Ó hEachtair, now Hoctor and earlier O’Haghtir, formerly an important family in north Tipperary. SIF 86

Though presenting no difficulty in England, where Haughton, alias Houghton, is a toponymic, as an Irish surname its origin cannot be determined except where a family has a certified pedigree or at least a well established tradition. Haughtons in Ireland can be the descendants of English settlers or alternatively of Gaelic ancestry, more than one Irish surname having been so anglicized. Ó hEacháin is anglicized Haghan, Haughton and even Hawkins *, and is often hard to distinguish from Ó hEachaidhín usually Haughian: these are Ulster surnames, of Down and Tyrone. O'Donovan equates this with Ó hEochagáin which Woulfe says was changed to Ó hEacháin. Then we find Haughton in the south and in the midlands. A number of Haughtons appear in Griffith's Valuation of Counties Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Kildare and Offaly. John Haughton, alias Houghton, was mayor of Waterford in 1659, presumably of an English family, and another Haughton appears in that document as titulado in south Wexford in which county a few years later a Haughton obtained a confirmatory grant of 1600 acres.

Laffan's edition of the Hearth Money Rolls for Co. Tipperary in the next decade gives a number of Haughtons, but it is probable that these were really O'Haghtirs which, as Gleeson's Last Lords of Ormond reminds us, was formerly of importance in north Tipperary. That name is now normally anglicized - Hoctor.

Two notable Haughtons were born in Carlow: James Haughton (1795-1873), worker with Father Matthew in the cause of temperance, and his son Rev. Samuel Haughton M.D. (1821-1897) the scientist.

In connexion with Carlow I may mention that the seneschal of that town in 1292 was a de Hochton.

*In the list of synonyms recorded by the Cunard Company met with among their emigrant passengers to America, Haughton is equated with Hutton, and even Naughton, as well as Houghton. This presents an example of the inadvisability of accepting such casual usage (often no more than the result of clerical error) as evidence a genuine synonymity.

See Houghton.

Place name in Northern England.

Parishes, &c., in cos. Durham, Chester, Northumberland, Stafford, Nottingham, &c.

Parishes and places in cos. Lancaster, Cumberland, Hunts, Hants, York, Northampton, Northumb., Norfolk, Bedford, Durham, Dorset, Leicester, &c.

Local. A town in Lancashire, England. Saxon, from hoog, or hoch, high, and ton, a hill, castle, or town.

A location name in Durham, Staffordshire.

The Houghtons are most numerous in Lancashire, though they have been established in several other counties, the name being evidently a place - name. One of the principal stocks of the Lancashire Houghtons is that of Little Pendleton, which dates back to the 15th century (W. W.).