This interesting surname is a variant of "Hutton" which is of English locational origin from any of twenty nine parishes and townships thus called in Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cumbria etc.. The placename itself is composed of the Old English pre seventh Century "hoh", a spur or ridge of a hill, and the second element "-tunn", enclosure, homestead, hence a "homestead on the spur of a hill". Some of the place-names in Cumberland were recorded as "Hoton" in 1271, in the Taxatio ecclesiastica, while in Yorkshire it was called "Hotun" in the Domesday Book of 1086. One Nicholas de Hutune was listed in the Assize Rolls of Lancashire in 1246. One Mary Hoten married Thomas Tombes at St. Vedast Foster Lane, and St. Michael le Querne, London on December 23rd 1661. Interesting namebearers include: Matthew Hutton (1529-1606), educated at Cambridge who became archbishop of York in 1596, and founded Warton Grammer School and Almshouses; a person of the same name (1693-1758), was also archbishop of Canterbury and York and also chaplain to George 11; One James Hutton (1715-1795), founded the Moravian church in England. In the modern idiom the name has three variants: Hutton, Houton and Houghton. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ernewi de Hottana, which was dated 1175, in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as the Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. 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.