This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a place so called in Lancashire. The placename is derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "halh, healh", a corner, nook, recess and "tun", enclosure, settlement, and means "settlement in the recess". The placename first recorded as "Halctun" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Halechton" in the Lancashire Inquests of 1226. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The modern surname can be found as Haighton and Heighton. Among the recordings in Lancashire are the marriages of Rychard Haighton and Doretie Parkinson on January 30th 1593, at Garstang, and of Thomas Haighton and Margret Hopewood on January 7th 1599 at Colne. The christening was recorded in Lancashire of Henry, son of Thomas Haighton, on April 23rd 1633 at Whalley. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wylliam Haighton (christening), which was dated January 18th 1569, Garstang, Lancashire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.

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