Last name: SEXTON

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All you have to know about the last name SEXTON

Last name frequency

SEXTON : This last name is indexed 96,581 times on Geneanet!

Origin of last name

SEXTON : 1: English: occupational name for a sexton or churchwarden from Middle English sextein(e) ‘sexton’ (Old French secrestein medieval Latin sacristanus). The sexton was originally the officer of a church in charge of the sacred vessels and vestments but later came to denote one who looked after the churchyard and dug graves.2: English: in northern England a variant of Saxton.3: English: possibly a habitational name from Sexton in Ermington (Devon) recorded as Shecoteston in 1329. The placename derives from the family of Richard Sheccoc recorded at Sexton in 1199 + Middle English toun ‘farmstead village settlement’. The origin of Richard Sheccoc's name is uncertain due to confusion between c and t as seen in the name of one of his descendants Richard Scheccote recorded at Sexton in 1333.4: Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seastnáin ‘descendant of Seastnán Seasnán’ a personal name meaning ‘bodyguard’ from seasuighim ‘to resist to defend’. The English surname was also established in Ireland where the rare surname McAtackney may represent a part-translation of ‘son of the Sexton’ into Irish.

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