In its English origins, Harrington—pronounced /ˈhɛərɪŋtən/—emerges as a toponymic surname composed of the Old English personal name Haering and the suffix tūn, meaning enclosure or settlement, initially identifying the villages of Harrington in Northamptonshire and Cumbria. Over the centuries, the designation accrued associations with landed gentry and the British aristocracy, a sociocultural heritage that informs its reserved gravitas when employed today as a masculine forename in Anglo-American contexts. Despite its modest frequency among recent United States birth registrations—ranked consistently near the lower nine hundreds—Harrington retains an aura of dignified tradition and scholastic refinement, appealing to those who value nomenclature imbued with historical depth and understated prestige.
| Harrington Emerson - |