This interesting and most unusual surname derives from three possible sources. Firstly the name is most likely of English locational origin from "Stoveton", in Cheshire, recorded "Stortone" in the Domesday Book (1086), from the old Norse element "storr", big plus the second element "tunn", homestead, village. it may also derive from "Sturton", in Lincolnshire, six miles south-east of Gainsborough, from the old English elements "straet", a raman road and "tun", as above, hence, a settlement by the Roman road. Finally, the surname may be a variant of "Stortone", an Italian augmentative of "Tort" a nickname for a crippled or deformed man from the old French, Provencal, and Catalan word "tort", twisted, crooked. The name first appears in London church records in 1476 when one Margaret Sturton married James Chedletch in London. Also in London at St. Margaret's, Westminster, Edward Sturton was christened on September 13th 1553 while Cisley, daughter of Rychard Sturton was christened at Holy Trinity the Less, London on September 16th 1569. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas de Sturton, which was dated 1216, Wiltshire County Records, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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