Johnstone

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname of Scottish origin signifying someone from or connected to places named Johnstone or derived from the personal name John combined with a settlement suffix
2. A family name often linked to Scottish heritage and geographic locations bearing the name, originally denoting descendants or inhabitants of a settlement associated with the name John
3. A proper noun used as a last name, historically indicating lineage or residency in areas named Johnstone, combining the common given name John with a territorial designation

Etymology: The name began as a personal name joined to a place. "John" was a common given name in medieval Britain, and in Scotland a settlement that belonged to someone called John became "John's toun," the Scots word for a farmstead or estate. That gave rise to places such as Johnstone in Renfrewshire. The "-stone" ending is a later spelling of "-ton," the same ending found in English names like Preston, so the name looks like it refers to a rock when it does not. Families took surnames from these places, and the Johnstones of Annandale in the Scottish Borders became a powerful family that appears often in the feuds and border raids of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A surname like this could therefore point to a family who held land at a particular place, or to people who lived there.