Dalton is a Hiberno-Norman surname of County Westmeath. It came to Ireland as the Anglo-Norman de Daltune, “of Dalton,” is written Daltún in Irish, and the family’s lands in the west of Meath were known as Dalton’s country before they became the barony of Rathconrath. To see the name on blankets, a mug, a flag and an ornament, visit the Dalton Irish family heritage gifts collection.
Quick answer: Rev. Patrick Woulfe gives the Irish forms Dalatún and Daltún and the English forms Dalton and D’Alton. He explains the name as “of Dalton,” a common place-name in the north of England, and adds that it might instead come from “de Aletone,” of Alton. Robert and William de Daltune appear on the roll of the Dublin guild merchant in 1226. The family went on to hold Rathconrath in County Westmeath and lost their estates in the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations.
What Does the Dalton Surname Mean?
Dalton is a place-name surname. In his Irish Names and Surnames, Woulfe traces it to the Norman form de Daltune, “of Dalton,” after one of the several villages of that name in northern England. English place-name scholars explain Dalton from the Old English dæl, valley, and tūn, farmstead, so the Cumbrian Dalton, for example, is a “valley farmstead.”
Woulfe also leaves room for a second source, “de Aletone,” meaning of Alton. Alton is a different English place-name, and the “valley” meaning belongs to Dalton alone. Whichever village the first bearer left, the family were known in Ireland as de Daltune, later D’Alton and Dalton, and the Irish speakers around them rendered the name Daltún.
From the Dublin Guild to Dalton’s Country
The earliest Irish record Woulfe cites is urban, not rural. Robert de Daltune and William de Daltune were admitted to the Dublin guild merchant in 1226, less than sixty years after the first Anglo-Norman landings. The family’s lasting home, however, was in the midland lordship of Meath.
By the early sixteenth century a stretch of western Meath carried the family name. When the Irish parliament divided Meath in 1543 and created the shire of Westmeath, four districts named for their Norman lords were turned into baronies: Dillon’s country became Kilkenny West, Tyrrell’s country became Fartullagh, Delamare’s country became Rossaughe, and Dalton’s country became Rathconrath. On logainm.ie, Ireland’s national placenames database, Rathconrath is Ráth Conarta, from ráth, a ring-fort, and it names both a civil parish and the barony around it.
From Forfeiture to Mount Dalton
Woulfe records that the Daltons held Rathconrath until the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations, when their estates were forfeited.
One branch came back. According to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Count Richard D’Alton built Mount Dalton House in 1784, after a distinguished career in Austrian service, in the townland of Loughan. The house was home to Count Oliver D’Alton, who died in 1799, and later to Countess Elizabeth Begg, née D’Alton, who died in 1832. The lake beside it is still listed on logainm.ie as Mount Dalton Lough, An Lochán, in the barony of Rathconrath, a place-name that keeps the family in the landscape of Dalton’s country.
Dalton, D’Alton and Daton: Telling the Names Apart
Dalton and D’Alton are the same Irish name, and both spellings run through the records side by side; the historian John D’Alton and Cardinal D’Alton kept the older form. Search both, along with de Daltune in medieval sources.
Kilkenny needs care. Woulfe notes that the old Kilkenny family of Daton, Dátún, from Autun in Normandy, was “sometimes incorrectly re-anglicised Dalton.” A Kilkenny Dalton may therefore belong to the Daton line rather than to the Westmeath family. Dalton is also a common surname in England, where it grew separately from the English villages of the name, so an emigrant family’s own parish and townland records decide which Dalton story is theirs.
How Can I Research Dalton Family History?
- IrishGenealogy.ie: search the official state indexes of Irish births, marriages and deaths at no cost, beginning with a Westmeath Dalton born after 1864.
- National Archives census of 1901 and 1911: search Dalton and D’Alton households in Westmeath, then widen to Longford, Meath and Offaly.
- Griffith’s Valuation: the land survey of the mid-nineteenth century, which places a tenant in a named townland such as Loughan or Rathconrath.
- National Library of Ireland parish registers: Catholic baptism and marriage entries for Westmeath, many from before state registration began in 1864.
- logainm.ie: the parish and barony of Rathconrath, their townlands and their historical spellings.
Check the Daton spelling too if a family came from Kilkenny, and look for de Daltune and D’Alton in older documents.
Notable Irish Daltons and D’Altons
- John D’Alton (1792–1867), born at Bessville, County Westmeath, barrister, historian and genealogist. His books include the History of the County of Dublin (1838), the Annals of Boyle (1845) and King James’s Irish Army List, 1689 (1855, enlarged 1860).
- Count Richard D’Alton, officer in Austrian service, who returned to Westmeath and built Mount Dalton House in 1784.
- John Francis D’Alton (1882–1963), born in Claremorris, County Mayo, president of Maynooth, archbishop of Armagh from 1946 and a cardinal from 1953.
- Emmet Dalton (1898–1978), born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He won the Military Cross with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, served as Michael Collins’s liaison officer, was beside Collins at Béal na Bláth on 22 August 1922, and later co-founded Ardmore Studios.
- Louis D’Alton (1900–1951), born in Fairview, Dublin, actor and dramatist, author of The Man in the Cloak (1937) and This Other Eden (1953).
Related Irish Family Names
The other Norman families whose lands became Westmeath baronies in 1543 have their own histories: Dillon, Tyrrell and Delamere. Neighbors in the county include Nugent and Tuite, and our guide to Irish surnames from County Westmeath sets them side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Dalton Name
Is Dalton an Irish surname?
Yes. It arrived with the Anglo-Normans and has been Irish for about eight centuries, with its heartland in County Westmeath. In Irish it is Daltún or Dalatún.
What does Dalton mean?
“Of Dalton,” after a village in northern England whose name means valley farmstead. Woulfe also allows “of Alton” as an alternative source.
Are Dalton and D’Alton the same family name?
Yes. D’Alton keeps the Norman particle, Dalton drops it, and Irish records use both for the same name.
Where was Dalton’s country?
In County Westmeath. The 1543 act that created the county turned Dalton’s country into the barony of Rathconrath, west of Mullingar.
Is Dalton a Kilkenny name?
Some Kilkenny Daltons began as Daton, a separate Norman family from Autun whose name was later re-spelled Dalton. Westmeath is the home of the Dalton name proper.
Is there a Dalton family crest?
Yes. Our Dalton design places the family crest over the Irish National Tartan, and you will find it woven into cotton, printed on a throw and a mug, flown on a porch flag and framed in silver for the Christmas tree.
Rathconrath is a long way from most Dalton kitchens today, but the Dalton family gifts collection keeps the Westmeath name close to hand.