Preston

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A city in Lancashire in northwest England, long known for its textile mills and its role as a market town ; a family name of English origin carried by many different people
2. A historic city in the county of Lancashire in northwest England ; a surname of English origin borne by people in many countries
3. A cathedral and market city in northwest England, historically important for cotton manufacturing ; an English family name shared by many individuals

Etymology: Preston is a place name before it is anything else, and its meaning is written right into it. The first element comes from Old English "prēosta", the genitive plural of "prēost", meaning "priest", so the name means roughly "priests' settlement" or "settlement of the priests", with "tūn" supplying the sense of an enclosure or farmstead that later grew into a village or town. The name is a doublet of Prestatyn, a town on the north coast of Wales, which shares the same Old English-derived elements in a different linguistic form. That shared root points to a time when settlements of religious communities were common enough that naming a place after the priests living there was a natural choice. Because the name was borne by a town and then passed on to the people who lived there or came from there, it also became a surname. Many people carry it today, so the word now serves both as the name of a Lancashire city and as a family name of English origin.