This famous surname, with over twenty recordings in the "Dictionary of National Biography", is of Anglo-Saxon and Scottish origin, and is locational from any of the various places so called in Britain. The placenames are derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hoh", ridge, spur, and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence "settlement on the ridge". The place in Lancashire was first recorded as "Hotun" in the Domesday Book f 1086; the place in Somerset was recorded as "Hotune, Hutone", also in the Domesday Book; and the place in Cumberland was recorded as "Hoton" in the Book of Fees of 1212. 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. An interesting namebearer was John Hutton (died 1712), a physician who attended the Princess Mary, daughter of James 11, while in Holland, and William 111, as first King's physician in Ireland. He had received his M.D. at Oxford in 1695, and he was first physician to Queen Anne. He was M.P.of Dumfries, from 1710 - 1712, and also a local benefactor. There were over twenty-six Coats of Arms granted to Hutton families; one of the earliest associated with the name is on a black shield, a chevron between three bucks' heads cabossed gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ernewi de Hottona, which was dated 1175, in the "Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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