A surname of English origin, also the name of several cities in the United States, most notably in California.
From Old English, meaning 'settlement of the fuller' - a fuller being someone who cleaned and thickened cloth. The '-ton' suffix indicates a town or settlement, making it literally 'fuller's town'.
Fullers were crucial in medieval textile production, using clay and human urine to clean wool - their work was so smelly they had to live downwind from towns. The California city of Fullerton sits on what was once a vast orange grove, transforming from agricultural land to suburban sprawl in the 20th century.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.