Beaton is a Scottish surname which may have multiple origins.

One origin of the name is from the placename Béthune, in Pas-de-Calais, France and is associated with the lowland clan Bethune. Another derivation of the surname is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic Mac Beath,[1] and corresponds to the Beaton medical kindred of the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles. The surname Beaton can be represented in modern Scottish Gaelic as Peutan (masculine form), and Pheutan (feminine).[2]

Another suggested derivation is from the mediaeval personal name Beaton or Beton, a pet form of a short form of the names Bartholomew or Beatrice.[1] Bartholomew is a masculine name, while Beatrice is feminine; the names are not etymologically related to each other.[3]

Notable people with the surname include:

References

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  1. ^ a b "Learn about the family history of your surname". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010. which cited Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508137-4. for the surname "Beaton".
  2. ^ Mark, Colin (2006), The Gaelic-English Dictionary, London: Routledge, p. 722, ISBN 0-203-22259-8
  3. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 28–29, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1