Recorded in several spellings including Mosten, Mostin, Mosstin, Moston and Mostyn, this is an English surname. It is locational from either of two villages called Moston both in the county of Cheshire, or from Moston in Lancashire, or Moston in Shropshire. The place name and hence the later surname means the village by the lake. This is from the pre 7th century Olde English word "maes" meaning marsh or lake, fused with the suffix "tun". Moston in Lancashire is first recorded in the tax rolls known as the Feet of Fines in 1195, whilst Moston near Chester is first recorded in the year 1228 as "Morcetone," and Moston near Middlewich is slightly later, appearing in the Assize Court rolls of Cheshire in 1276. The earliest place name recording however is held by the Shropshire village, which appears in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as Mostune. The surnames however are particularly popular in Cheshire, and early examples of recordings taken from surviving registers of that county include: Elizabeth Moston, the daughter of Rowland Moston, christened at Astbury, on May 17th 1583, Jane Mostyn, who married George Orr at Prestbury, on October 20th 1728, and James Mosten, who was christened at Sandbach, on July 30th 1811.

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