Appleton is an Anglo-Saxon locational surname.^[1]

It is borne by:

People

• Alistair Appleton (born 1970), British television presenter
• Charles Appleton (academic) (1841–1879), Oxford don and scholarly entrepreneur
• Charles Appleton (cricketer) (1844–1925), English amateur cricketer
• Charles William Appleton (1874–1945), vice president of the General Electric Company, judge and Assistant District Attorney in New York City
• Colin Appleton (1936–2021), English football player and manager
• Daniel Appleton (1785–1849), American publisher, founder of D. Appleton & Company
• Edward Victor Appleton (1892–1965), English Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for his research on the ionosphere
• Edwin Nelson Appleton (1877–1937), United States Marine and Medal of Honor recipient
• Elizabeth Lachlan (1790–1849), née Appleton, British writer and education advocate
• Francis R. Appleton (1854–1929), lawyer and member of the 400 during the Gilded Age
• Frederick Charles Appleton (1835–1914), Australian actor
• George Swett Appleton (1821–1878), American publisher
• Henry Appleton (captain) (fl. 1650–1654), English captain in the navy and commodore
• James Appleton (1786–1862), American abolitionist
• Jean Appleton (1911–2003), Australian painter, art teacher and printmaker
• John Appleton (disambiguation)
• Jon Appleton (1939–2022), American composer, author and professor of music
• Mason Appleton (born 1996), American ice hockey player
• Michael Appleton (born 1975), English football manager and former player
• Mike Appleton (1936–2020), British television producer
• Natalie Appleton (born 1973), Canadian-born British singer
• Nathan Appleton (1779–1861), American merchant, entrepreneur and politician
• Nicole Appleton (born 1974), Canadian-born British singer, sister of Natalie Appleton
• Ray Appleton (1941–2015), American jazz drummer
• Ruel Ross Appleton (1853–1928), campaign manager for Mayor Gaynor of New York City
• Samuel Appleton (merchant) (1766–1853), American merchant and philanthropist
• Scott Appleton (1942–1992), American football player
• Stevie Appleton, British singer
• Thomas Gold Appleton (1812–1884), American author and artist
• William Appleton (politician) (1786–1862), congressman from Massachusetts
• Will Appleton (1889–1958), mayor of Wellington, New Zealand
• William Sumner Appleton (1874–1947), founder Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
• William M. Appleton (1920–2001), Pennsylvania politician
• William Henry Appleton (1814–1899), American publisher
• William Appleton (entrepreneur) (born 1961), American entrepreneur and technologist
• William H. Appleton (1843–1912), American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
• William Thomas Appleton (1859–1930), Australian businessman, shipping agent and public servant

Fictional characters

• the title character of Elizabeth Appleton, a 1963 novel by John O'Hara
• Larry Appleton, from the TV series Perfect Strangers