Meaning: (Oak Town, Settlement of Oak Trees, Surname used as a given name. Also the pseudonym used by Charlotte Brontë's sister Anne, who wrote as "Acton Bell". The three sisters chose masculine-sounding pseudonyms.
This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from one of the many places thus called for example in
Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Middlesex, Shropshire and
Suffolk. The place names are recorded variously in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Actune, Aectune, Achetone, Achetune, Acton" and "Achetuna". Most of the places get their name from the Olde English pre 7th Century "ac", oak, and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence, "settlement by the oak tree(s)". A few have the Olde English personal name "Acca" (a derivative of "ac", oak, and given with connotations of strength and reliability) as their first element, and would therefore mean "Acca's settlement". During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Two of the families bearing this name are of considerable historical importance. The Worcestershire Actons, who held lands at Wolverton Hall near Pershore from the 16th Century onwards are descended from Sir Roger Acton, captain of
Ludlow Castle, who was executed for treason in 1414. The historian, Lord Acton (1834 - 1902), came of a
Shropshire family, first recorded in the county with William de Acton in the reign of Edward 111 (1327 - 1377). A Coat of Arms granted to the family is a red shield with an ermine fess within an ermine border. In Heraldry, red denotes Military Fortitude and Magnanimity, and ermine was an emblem of dignity. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh de Acton, which was dated 1194, in the "Pipe Rolls of Shropshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In
England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Acton)
Origin: (English, Old English, Danish, Anglo-Saxon)
Pronunciation: (AAKTahN, ACT-un)
Gender: Male, Uni-Sex
I was looking at an Anne Bronte novel on my bookshelf the other day. She had to write under a masculine pen name like her sisters. Her pen name was Acton Bell. Her sister Emily wrote under Ellis Bell
*See Ellis on my list of posts*. I like the name and the meanings. The Bronte Sisters are some on my favorite classical writers. I think women like them made it possible for woman to break into a male dominated career. There lives were short but I respect what they achieved and what they went through. As for the name
Acton it is unique and modern but obviously still old fashioned. It is easily pronounced and has a good look to it.
