masc. proper name, from French, from Latin Quin(c)tianus, from quintus "the fifth." Roman children in large families often were named for their birth order (compare Sextius; also see Octavian). "[P]opular in France from the cult of St Quentin of Amiens, and brought to England by the Normans" ["Dictionary of English Surnames"], but the popular English form as a surname was Quinton.