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Surname Etymology and Meaning of ARBUTHNOT

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Local) First assumed by the proprietors of the land and barony of Arbuthnot in the Mearns, Scotland. The name is said to have been anciently written Aberbuthnoth, which signifies the dwelling near the confluence of the river with the sea, from Aber, the mouth of a river, both, a dwelling, and neth, a stream that descends, or is lower than some other relative object.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

Scottish and northern Irish: habitational name from a place called Arbuthnott, south of Aberdeen, earlier Aberbuthnot, a Pictish place name from aber ‘confluence’ + the stream name Buadhnat (the Gaelic form) meaning ‘virtuous’ or ‘healing’, i.e. the stream was regarded as holy, with healing properties.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)