The sexton Surname
sexton Name Meaning and History
- English: occupational name for a sexton or churchwarden, from Middle English sexteyn ‘sexton’ (Old French secrestein, from Latin sacristanus).
- Irish (Munster and midlands): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seastnáin ‘descendant of Seastnán, Seasnán’, a personal name meaning ‘bodyguard’, from seasuighim ‘to resist’, ‘to defend’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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