This is an English loctional name from either of two places so-called in Cheshire and Lancashire. The name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Eanrad" and "tun", meaning an enclosure or settlement, later a village or town. Locational names were given to the local lord of the manor, to the inhabitants of the places and especially to those people who left their original habitation and went to live or work in another village or town. One, Thomas Anderton married Elizabeth Brittan in 1772, at St. Georges, Hanover Square, London and an interesting bearer of the name was Henry Anderton (1630 - 1665) the painter pupil of the much admired architectural painter Robert Streater who executed many portraits of Charles II and his Courtiers. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter Anderton. which was dated 1560, Baines History of Lancashire. during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. 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.