Clinton (English)

Where does "Clinton" come from?

Clinton originated as an English habitational surname derived from English place names such as Glinton, meaning 'town on a hill', or Glympton, which denotes a 'settlement on the River Glyme'[1]. These place names were formed in Old English by combining an initial element with the noun 'tun', which signified an 'enclosure, homestead, town'[1] and trace back to Proto-Germanic '*tūną'[3]. Over time, the surname was transferred into use as a male given name and widely applied as a place name across the English-speaking world[1].

Open questions

• The exact Old English initial element in the place name Glinton is not specified in the source material. [1]

Full etymology tree

• Clinton (English), 'A surname.'
  • derived Glinton (English), 'A village and civil parish in City of Peterborough district, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TF1505).'
    • compound tun (Old English), 'an enclosed piece of ground, an enclosure or garden'
      • inherited *tūn (Proto-West Germanic), 'fence'
        • inherited *tūną (Proto-Germanic), 'fence'
  • derived Glympton (English), 'A village and civil parish on the River Glyme, about 3 miles (5 km) north of Woodstock, Oxfordshire.'
    • compound tun (Old English), 'an enclosed piece of ground, an enclosure or garden'
      • inherited *tūn (Proto-West Germanic), 'fence'
        • inherited *tūną (Proto-Germanic), 'fence'

Descendants and derived words

• Aston Clinton (English)
• Clint (English)
• Clinton County (English)
• Clintonesque (English)
• Clintonian (English)
• Clintoniana (English)
• Clintonism (English)
• Clintonist (English)
• Clintonist (English)
• Clintonista (English)
• Clintonite (English)
• Clintonization (English)

Sources

1. Clinton (English) - Wiktionary
2. Glympton (English) - Wiktionary
3. tun (Old English) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris