This is an English pre medieval place name surname. It derives from the pre 7th century Olde English words 'ryge-tun', with the usual meaning of a farm where rye was grown, or sometimes as in Ryton village in North Yorkshire, it describes a farm which stands on a river called the Rye. There are perhaps not surprisingly, a number of places called Ryton. These include Ryton in County Durham, Ryton in Shropshire, and Ryton on Dunsmore, in Warwickshire. All appear in the 1086 Domesday Book in varied spellings including Ritona and Ruitone, although by the 13th century they are mainly recorded in the dialectal form of Ruyton. It would seem that all the various villages may have supplied nameholders, but as locational surnames are usually 'from' names, that is to say, names given to people after they left their original homes, the strict origins are difficult to prove. Early examples of the surname recordings taken from surviving church registers of the Reformation period include: Katherin Ryttone who married John Wilding at Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, on April 9th 1588, Thomas Ryton, whose daughter Ann was christened at St Andrews Holborn, on July 15th 1613, and Thomas Writton, a witness at St Mary's Handsworth, on October 11th 1674, both latter recordings being from the city of London registers.

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