Payten

Payten (like Paityn) is an Americanized respelling of the English surname rendered as either Peyton or Payton in its traditional form. Both Payton and Peyton have become successful gender-neutral names in the United States while Paityn and Payten were coined as more specific female spellings. The surname Payton is derived from a location name in England which in turn was most likely derived from an Olde English personal name. The land in question was known as “Pǽga’s settlement” which would have signified the outlying country or a “rustic” area or else a settlement of peasants (probably borrowed from the Latin “pagensis” meaning “peasant, rustic”). The surname was first recorded as Pachenhou in the Domesday Book in the early 12th century. Surnames became widespread in England during the Middle Ages as a means of identification for the purposes of taxation. Due to the high rate of illiteracy in medieval England, as well as the disparity among local dialects, the pronunciations and spellings of surnames developed slowly over time into their modern standardized forms. The last names in the forms of Payton and Peyton were around by the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively. Despite their long “rustic” history as surnames, Payton and Peyton did not turn into forenames until the late 20th century and the reinvented respellings of Payten and Paityn are 21st century coinages.