Hutton is an English surname from several northern villages whose name means "settlement on a ridge" or "farm on the spur of a hill", from the Old English hoh, spur, and tun, enclosure. The actor Timothy Hutton and the geologist James Hutton, father of modern geology, are its best-known bearers, and it fits the current fashion for two-syllable surname names such as Hudson and Sutton. Hutton has climbed from number 7045 in 2000 to number 2169 in 2025, its best rank so far.