Clinton

Home > Places > United States and Canada > U.S. Political Geography

Clinton ♂ Mainly North American: transferred use of the English surname, a local name from Glympton in Oxfordshire or Glinton in Northants. It was originally used as a given name in America in honour of the Clinton family, whose members included the statesman George Clinton (1739–1812), governor of New York, and his nephew De Witt Clinton (1769–1828), who was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Erie Canal. More recently it has no doubt been bestowed with reference to William Jefferson Clinton (b. 1946), 42nd president of the U.S., and it has enjoyed increasing popularity in the U.K.

Clinton 1 Town (1990 pop. 12,767), Middlesex co., S Conn., on Long Island Sound; settled 1663, set off from Killingworth and inc. 1838. The school that later became Yale opened here in 1702. Clinton is today an affluent suburb with shopping malls and vineyards. 2 City (1990 pop. 29,201), seat of Clinton co., E central Iowa, on the Mississippi, in a corn and livestock area; inc. 1859. An industrial and rail center, it has food-processing (especially corn) and diverse manufacturing industries. Clinton grew as a lumbering town and in the 1880s was a great sawmill center in the Midwest, but the forests were depleted.

Clinton, Canada, New Zealand, USA 1. USA (Iowa): originally New York, it was renamed in 1855 after DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), governor of New York (1817–23, 1825–8).2. USA: at least six other towns are also named after the same man; others are named after George Clinton (1739–1812), another governor of New York (1777–95, 1801–4) and vice president of the USA (1804–12).

Clinton •baton, batten, fatten, flatten, harmattan, Manhattan, Mountbatten, paten, patten, pattern, platen, Saturn, slattern •Shackleton • Appleton •Hampton, Northampton, Rockhampton, Southampton, Wolverhampton •Canton, lantern, Scranton •Langton, plankton •Clapton •Aston, pastern •Gladstone •Caxton, Paxton •capstan • Ashton • phytoplankton •Akhenaten, Akhetaten, Aten, Barton, carton, Dumbarton, hearten, Parton, smarten, spartan, tartan •Grafton •Carlton, Charlton •Charleston • kindergarten •Aldermaston •Breton, jetton, Sowetan, threaten, Tibetan •lectern •Elton, melton, Skelton •Denton, Fenton, Kenton, Lenten, Trenton •Repton •Avestan, Midwestern, northwestern, Preston, southwestern, western •sexton •Clayton, Deighton, Leighton, Paton, phaeton, Satan, straighten, straiten •Paignton • Maidstone •beaten, Beaton, Beeton, Cretan, Keaton, neaten, Nuneaton, overeaten, sweeten, uneaten, wheaten •chieftain •eastern, northeastern, southeastern •browbeaten • weatherbeaten •bitten, bittern, Britain, Briton, Britten, handwritten, hardbitten, kitten, Lytton, mitten, smitten, underwritten, witan, written •Clifton •Milton, Shilton, Stilton, Wilton •Middleton • singleton • simpleton •Clinton, Linton, Minton, Quinton, Winton •cistern, Liston, piston, Wystan •brimstone • Winston • Kingston •Addington • Eddington •Workington •Arlington, Darlington •skeleton •Ellington, wellington •exoskeleton •cosmopolitan, megalopolitan, metropolitan, Neapolitan •Burlington • Hamilton • badminton •lamington • Germiston • Penistone •Bonington • Orpington • Samaritan •Carrington, Harrington •sacristan • Festschriften •Sherrington • typewritten •Warrington • puritan • Fredericton •Lexington • Occitan • Washington •Whittington • Huntington •Galveston • Livingstone •Kensington •Blyton, brighten, Brighton, Crichton, enlighten, frighten, heighten, lighten, righten, tighten, titan, triton, whiten •begotten, cotton, forgotten, ill-gotten, misbegotten, rotten •Compton, Crompton •wanton • Longton •Boston, postern •boughten, chorten, foreshorten, Laughton, Morton, Naughton, Orton, quartan, quartern, shorten, tauten, torten, Wharton •Alton, Dalton, Galton, saltern, Walton •Taunton • Allston • Launceston •croton, Dakotan, Minnesotan, oaten, verboten •Bolton, Doulton, molten •Folkestone • Royston •Luton, newton, rambutan, Teuton •Houston • Fulton •button, glutton, Hutton, mutton •sultan •doubleton, subaltern •fronton • Augustan • Dunstan •tungsten • quieten • Pinkerton •charlatan • Wollaston • Palmerston •Edmonton • automaton • Sheraton •Geraldton • Chatterton • Betterton •Chesterton • Athelstan •burton, curtain, uncertain •Hurston