Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from any of various places, such as Rowlston in Lincolnshire, Rolleston in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire, or Rowlstone in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border. Most of these are named from the genitive case of the Old Norse personal name Hrólfr (see Rolf) or of the Old English cognate name Hrōðwulf + Old English tūn ‘enclosure’, ‘settlement’. In the case of the Nottinghamshire place, however, the first element is from the genitive case of the Old Norse personal name Hróaldr (see Rowett).