Recorded in several spellings including Darlaston, Darleston, Darliston, Darlasson, Darlison, Darlisson, Darlston, and no doubt others, this is an Englisjh locational surname. It originates either Dalston, a village in Cumbria, or Dalston in Middlesex, but more usually from the town of Darlaston in Staffordshire near Stone. The place itself is truly ancient being recorded over one thousand years ago in 956 a.d. as Deorlaustun, meaning "Deorleifs settlement". Deorleif literally meaning "dear friend" was an early personal and baptismal name with possibly Viking origins. It may also be the prefix in the villages of Dalston, although it is exremely unlikely that it was the same person. Locational surnames were usually "from" names. Those were names generally given to people after they left their original villages to move somewhere else, and were best identified by being called after them. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, often lead to the creation of "sounds like" forms. Examples of the surname recordings include Sarah Darlston, christened at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on September 2nd 1642, Anne Darleston at St Peters Cornhill, on February 11th 1677, Isaac Darliston at St Mary Whitechapel, on October 6th 1782, and William Darlisson at St Mary-le-Bone, on March 25th 1821.

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