Recorded in the spellings of Dolton, Doulton and Dulton, this is an English locational surname. It probably originates from the village of Dolton in the county of Devonshire, but it may well in some cases be a dialectal transposition of the popular surname 'Dalton'. This is almost certainly the case with the recording of Sarah Dolton who married George Cockburn at the church of St James, Whitehaven, Cumbria, on August 17th 1819, the name not having previously been recorded in that county. The name is of unproven etymology, but it is probably a derivation of the Olde English pre 7th century 'du' meaning black, plus 'tona', a river. Curiously several rivers, particularly in the West County are known as the River Tone. The firsy known recording of the place name is as 'Duueltone' in the year 1231, whilst that of the surname is later. It is locational and as such a 'from' name, or a name given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. Early examples of the surname recording include Richard Dolton at the church of St Mary whitechapel, city of London, on March 21st 1616, whilst on April 13th 1817 Eliza Doulton married William Pitts at the famous church of St Martins in the Field, Westminster.

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