A surname of English origin, also used as a given name. Notable bearers include playwright Joe Orton and wrestler Randy Orton.
From Old English, likely meaning 'settlement on a hill' or 'farm on higher ground', combining elements meaning 'over' and 'town'. Many English place names and surnames encode ancient geographical features.
Place-name surnames like Orton are like linguistic archaeology - they preserve Old English words that have otherwise vanished, keeping alive thousand-year-old descriptions of the English landscape!
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