Surname - East. where does it originate? east of where?

Question:This is what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name,

East
English: topographic name for someone who lived in the eastern part of a town or settlement, or outside it to the east, or a regional name for someone who had migrated from the east of a place. As an American family name, this surname has absorbed various other European names with similar
meaning.

hope this helps.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: This is what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name,

East
English: topographic name for someone who lived in the eastern part of a town or settlement, or outside it to the east, or a regional name for someone who had migrated from the east of a place. As an American family name, this surname has absorbed various other European names with similar
meaning.

hope this helps.

It could mean the east of anywhere, a vally, a country, a group anything!

Very few surnames are specific to a town. Some come from fathers, like Peterson, Johnson and Simons (Simon's son). Some come from trades, like Miller, Baker, Carpenter and Mueller, which is German for Miller. Some come from geography, like Hill, Rivers, Banks, Marsh, West, North, South and . . . East. A rare few come from specific villages or provinces. "York" is an example.

"East" is probably English, unless you are an American, Australian or Canadian and your ancestor changed it from the original French, German, Dutch, Finnish, Basque, Hungarian, Polish or Czech so his neighbors could spell it easily.