Last name: Atherton

This very interesting surname, recorded as Atherton and Eatherton, is of 7th century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon origins. It is locational from a place so called in Lancashire. The earliest recording of this placename is found in the Fees Rolls of that county for the year1212, when it is spelt as "Aderton", and then later in the Post Mortem Records of 1322 as "Atherton". The name is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Aethelhere", of uncertain etymology, and "tun", a settlement, town; hence, "Aethelhere's town". During the Middle Ages, when it became common for people to migrate from their place of birth to seek work elsewhere, they would often adopt or be given the village name as a means of identification. This resulted in a wide dispersal of the name. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic church registers include Roger Atherton, who married Elizabeth Stringfellowe, on September 22nd 1599, at Farnworth North, Prescot, Lancashire and Charlotte Eatherton, the daughter of John Eatherton, who was christened at Holborn Hospital, London, on March 22nd 1787. Amongst the interesting recordings associated with this surname is that of William Atherton, an early settler in the New World. He is reported as being granted a ticket to sail from the Barbadoes to Boston, New England, in October 1679. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Athertone, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377.

Visitor Comments

ADIVA
THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION. MY GRANDFATHER IS FROM BARBADOS. ALWAYS WONDERED THE ORIGIN SINCE THE LAST NAME IS NOT COMMON. I CAN COUNT THE ATHERTONS I KNOW AND I ALWAYS FIND OUT THAT I AM RELATED.

Derek Atherton
It is my name and in my family tree that I am now researching - you never know, there may be link if we go back far enough! http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/atherton182

Janet Smith
I am attempting to trace my family tree and as my late mother Lilian's maiden name was Atherton I am interested in your comments. She had 7 sisters the first Ada had the same name as their Mother, also a boy was born but died as a baby. Their father was Jabez Atherton and they lived in Manchester growing up and all but my mother stayed in South M/Cr and Cheshire. Please get in touch Jan

Wesley Atherton
My name is Wesley Atherton and from my knowledge ATHERTON means 'What Fate He Brings We Bear.' My dad told me this a few years ago as his mother told him this from him being of a young age. I think the ATHERTON name is one that will last forever!!

shelia atherton
My name is Shelia Atherton. We are the only family in Penrith, Cumbria with that name. As dad was from Preston I'm not surprised. It's some surname. If anybdoy out there can add anything to the history of dads family Anthony Atherton. Born June 1st 1935. Hull Street. Preston. Lancs. Please, let me know. Many thanks

Helen Atherton
I was brought up in St Helens, NW England and now live in London. Atherton is not a common name in London, but in St Helens every other person seemed to be called Atherton, and I knew of at least two other people with the same first and surname as me whilst living there. The following website may be useful to you: http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Surnames.aspx It shows that the majority of Athertons are found in the St Helens and Wigan areas. One thing I have noticed is that people outside of the NW of England don't pronouce it properly! Best wishes, Helen

Fran Naegel
My grandmother on my dad's side was Clarinda Katherine Atherton. Her ancestors came from Pennsylvania and were Quakers. I have'nt gotten back any farther.

Shawn Mickey Atherton
I know for a fact that an Atherton by the name of Major General Humphrey Atherton killed Quakers in the 1600s.

john atherton
hi im john atherton and live in great yarmouth , my father was t,atherton mr worksop , and his father was william atherton also from worksop , if that any use to anyone lol

John Atherton
Hi, snap...my name is also John Atherton and so was my father before me. I was born & raised in Parr, St Helens, Merseyside and now I live in NZ with my NZ born Samoan wife.

Donald Atherton
If anyone can supply more details of a Ralph Atherton d. 1589 and his wife Matilda, d. 1583, both at Davenham,Cheshire UK. alph's father may have been Christopher, and grandfather Humphrey of Nantwich, Cheshire (possibly died 1506. Please reply directly to donsatherton@supanet.com

Graham
I'm trying to go further back than William Atherton, born 1777 probably in Frodsham. any help in connections would be great email sthukpix@gmail.com

Bruce Atherton
Interesting site! Not only spead to the "new world" but also Australia as early pioneers. Edmund came from the village of Atherton in Lancashire and arrived in Sydney Cove in early 1800's. His decendants are quite widely spread across Australia with both a district and town in north Queensland now carrying the name.

Shawn Mickey Atherton
I don't know of any Atherton before Theophilus Atherton born 1776 in New York. My family has been trying to search for these people for generations.

Janet Smith
My mother was Lilian Atherton one of eight girls born to Ada and Jabez Atherton in Manchester 27th October 1919 she was not the youngest and she had a brother who died as a baby. All but my mother settled in South manchester in and around Cheshire namely Styal and Cheadle Hulme areas. If anyone knows anything I would greatly appreciate it as I have not had any contact from any of that side of the family since my Mothers funeral Oct 1977.

Derek Atherton
Have you viewed my web site - The Atherton One-Name Study? www.tribalpages.com/tribes/atherton182 If you are (or your ancestors of course) on the site, can you add any other detail? If you're not on - do you want to be? Looking forward to hearing from you! Derek

rachel atherton
Hi I would really like to know more about the atherton name, I live in Lewes in the SW of england, my grandfather was Colin atherton, and his father was ivor atherton, husband to ons as far as I know he was a fireman, if any one knows any more I would love to hear back :D x

Derek Atherton
I have Ivor being born in Croydon in 1910? On my website, I also have Ivor's grandparents and the children & siblings! Please get back to me if you have any queries. PS. For some reason I have only just been notified about your message - 6 weeks late!

Susan Page
Hello Rachel Golin was my Godfather [he lived in lewes Sussex.]Ivor and Ina were my great Aunt and Uncle. If you we can enlighten each other this would be marvelous. Suze

Richard Sumner
KiaOra Rachel - I had the pleasure of working with Colin in 1957 at The B.P.& B.I.R. A. at Kenley when I was seventeen. He was a great guy to know and work with. If you would like to hear more - just email me. Regards, Richard.

Helene Atheton
hi Richard,this is helene colins daughter,did you meet him when he was in the RAF? if so i have a few pics of him and friends of his at that time.

rachel atherton
Hi Derek, yes my great grandfather was born in croydon, as my grandad was too! Ivor was husband to Ina :) Thanku for your help! X

susan page
hello Derek I had a great Uncle Ivor [believe he was a fireman at some point] married to Ina and they lived in Croydon Surrey. They had a son Colin who was my Godfather he moved to Sussex. Uncle Ivor's sister Doris Beatrice Mann [married to Arthur Reginald Mann they had a son called Ian, my father]was my paternal grandmother and their parents were Annie and Charlie Atherton. Would this match your family tree.As all my close family have died I do not have any source for discovering the family tree, which I would like to do. My Uncle Ivor's siblings were Doris, Eric,and Dennis.

Derek Atherton
Rachel, Not a problem - glad to help in any way! If you have anything to add to my website (photo's, dates, names etc) please let me know! Regards, Derek

Alton John Atherton
Hi. I'm also trying to trace my family tree. My father was Kelvin Atherton. Grand father Rupert Atherton Married to Gerdine Atherton. That is as far as I can go.

Alton John Atherton
My Parents Kelvin and Elaine Atherton were from Trinidad & Tobago West Indies.

Derek
Without any dates, it's almost impossible to get anywhere!

rachel atherton
Hi Susan! Oh my word all of what you have said matches with my family tree! Yay! I'm Rachel I'm colins grandaughter :) my grandad had three daughters Louise Elizabeth and Helene. Helene is my mother and Louise and Elizabeth my aunts :) so this would make you and them 3rd cousins.? And you and grandad Colin 2nd cousins?. Ivor was a fireman yes and a chief one at that, and my grandad Colin moved here to Lewes after the RAF I believe. This is so exciting as we have never met any other atherton relatives before. My mum would like to know if you were the cousin of grandad Colin at uncle Burts funeral? She was the only one of grandad Colins children who was there due to circumstance :) can't wait to here back from you! Yours sincerely Rachel xx

Suze Page
Thank you for responding. I've just written you a long and informative reply and something went wrong it got lost ib the psting. I'll get back to you later today. Suzexx

Suze
Hello Rachel, at last some time to get back to you! No I don't know of an Uncle Burt-whose brother was he etc? I don't know whether my mother may have attended his funeral, she was usually the one to do things like that. However, she died in 2003, so if it was around then or later I am not able to help. I will start afresh and continue with a new post now. Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Atherton#ixzz1hBRTHd4C

Suze
At some point please would you tell me what became of Aunie Ina. I did not have any further contact with the Athertons after 1976 when my grand-mother Doris died. I will start at the beginning that I know of. Annie Helena Thornbury- she is my great-grandmother and your great-great-grandmother-born in Abergavenny in 1880 to Robert Thornbury, but I have yet to discover who her mother was,she married Charles Henry Atherton [mother's maiden name Patch]1905-1906 possibly in Abergavenny,he was[as far as I know]born in Bristol in 1882. My grand-mother, Doris Beatrice Atherton was their first born on 17th April 1906 in Pontypridd.Their second child was Eric Carl Atherton,but I'm not sure of his birth date or birth location yet. Their third child, your great-grandfather and my great Uncle Ivor, I believe he was born in 1910 and by this time they had moved to Lansdowne Road,Croydon,Surrey.They had one more child Dennis Lindsey Atherton.Obviously there are children for these, but I will let you digest this information and then let me know what you would like to know next.Suze xx

Suze
Hello Rachel, at last some time to get back to you! No I don't know of an Uncle Burt-whose brother was he etc? I don't know whether my mother may have attended his funeral, she was usually the one to do things like that. However, she died in 2003, so if it was around then or later I am not able to help. I will start afresh and continue with a new post now.

Helene Atheton
Hello Suze,this is Helene,colins youngest daughter,uncle Bert was married to Auntie Kitty and she was grandma Ina's sister so bertie was not a blood relation their surname was Rhodes and he died in '93 they never had children ,i am not sure if my daughter Rachel has told you that my dad (colin)passed away in feb 2009 so i now have lots of photos (dad was a photographer) not sure who alot of the people are but will try to scan and let you see them.

Suze
Hello Helene,nice to hear from you. I didn't post any further information for Rachel in December as I thought she would let me know when she wanted it,as Christmas is such a busy time. Please will you tell that there are a few other snippets if she wants them. Thank you for that I don't believe I ever knew of them. I did find Colin's obituary, quite by chance, whilst searching for one for my father.It saddened me that I had never seen him again and he hadn't changed at all visually from when he was young,I have a few photos of your dad when he was about 22 years old and he used to spend a lot of time with his cousin Ian, my late father,he is leaning proudly on his Ford Popular and I do remember years ago we had photos of Uncle Ivor and Aunty Ina, but since my grandparents passed and father and I lost touch I don't know what became of them. I would like to see the photos you have, who knows I may be able to put a name to one or two for you.I could scan in some of the photos I have as well.

helene atherton
Hi Suze thank you for your reply,i must say i only came across this websit by accident, rachel did tell me at the time that she had contacted some of my dads family which really pleased her as we all miss dad so much,this will give the kick up the backside that i need to go through the hundreds of photos that i have,i have a couple of rare days off !!! so perhaps now is the time to start.

Suze
Hello Helene Yes I found it by accident too and I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I saw Colin's name on here, I was thrilled to discover some relatives as all the others have departed. P know what you mean, I have already sifted through hundreds of unknown people, mostly friends of my late mother, of which there were many around the world. As they were not known to me I discarded them, but I still have a load of family ones to sort out and it's the kind of job you always mean to do, but never get round to. I will have a week to myself at the end of May and I will find some time to look through them. However a my son,Toby,is getting married in 5 months things are getting busier as time gets shorter. Nevertheless I will find them, so don't worry. Enjoy your days off and re-charge your batteries. Look forward to hearing from you again. Take care.

Helene Atheton
Hi Suze,just re-read one of your posts i believe my grandma ina died just after i was born in 1968,i will ask my mum and check.

Suze
Hello Helene, I've been doing a bit of digging around for you. Uncle Ivor died in 1966, his mother Annie died in 1967 and I discovered Aunty Ina died in 1969.I also discoverd that her maiden name was Ina Lucy Saker. Anyway what I was going to tell you was I think, possibly, after Ivor's death Ina and my grandmother Doris must have lost touch as Annie was living with us and needed 24 hour care as she was in her late 80's and had had a couple of strokes, so we all looked after her until her death and obviously it was very difficult for her to cope with the death of one of her son's. I certainly don't remember hearing that Ina had died.Also Uncle dennis, the youngest of Annie's children had not ben a well man since the war and my Grandmother was also looking after him, all in all we seemed to lose touch with everyone.

Suze
I forgot to tell you that I can remember Uncle Ivor used to drive an Austen A40 Farina in a pale teal colour and Aunty Ina wore round glasses, I think she had dark hair. A bit of useless information

Helene Atheton
hi,i have lots of pics of ina and ivor some with my dad and some with other people,ivor and ina split when my dad was about 11 i think so that would be one reason people lost touch.will start on the pics tonight and try to scan on sunday,take care helene.

Suze
Gosh I had no idea they had split up. I will try and have a look through mine too. I've been flat out working recently and not had any time, but will try over the week-end, Take care Suze

maureen todd
Hi, my maiden name was Atherton and i have been researching my ancestors for a number of years. i discovered that my great grandfather Ambrose was born in Wharton in Northwich Cheshire 1853 but moved to Barrow in Furness as a young man and married there.He then moved with his wife and 3 children to Gateshead Tyne & Wear around 1888 and had 3 more children until his death in 1893.Ambrose had a brother Daniel and sisters Elizabeth and Sarah.Is anyone related to these people?