This is an English locational surname. Recorded in various spellings including Vaughton, Vawton, Vaughten, and Vaughtin, it seems to be particularly associated with the midlands county of Warwickshire, and specifically with the city of Birmingham. Certainly it was in that place when it was a small town in the early 17th century, that the surname seems to have made its first appearance. This suggests that as there is no such place recorded today as Vaughton or apparently anything close to it, that the surname derives from a now "lost" medieval village of which the only reminder in the 20th century is the surviving surname in its varied spellings. Alternatively it is possible that the surname was originally some other form such as Warton, a popular village name which is found in various locations of the country. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic and local accents very thick, often lead to "sounds like" spellings. In this case early examples of the surname recordings showing how spellings changed even in the same register and with the same family include Dorothy Vawton, the daughter of Humfrey Vawton, christened at St Martins church, Birmingham, on June 3rd 1606, and the same person, but now registered as Dorothy Vaughton, when she married William Wood at the same church on January 20th 1630. A later example again at St Martins, was Dorathy Vauton, the daughter of Samuell Vauton, christened on March 19th 1687.

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