Elliot

The origin of the Scottish surname is obscure, due to much of the genealogy of the Eliott clan being burnt in the destruction of the castle at Stobs in 1712.

[7] The clan society usually accepts that the name originated from the town and river Elliot in Angus, Scotland.

The name has Anglo-Saxon origins and appears alongside Armstrong in Northumbrian records dating from 1165.

The original Anglo-Saxon surnames from Northumbria like Aelwold, Ellwald, Elaund, Elwaird, Elwods, Alwods, Elyards, Halwads seem to have mixed together eventually as Ellot.

[18] It has been argued by Keith Elliott Hunter[19] that the origins of the St. Germans Eliot family were among the Bretons accompanying William the Conqueror.

The Breton origin of Eliot and Elliot is indicated by these names being in significant clusters in Morbihan, southern Brittany.

In 1069, the Breton Count Brien (Brian of Brittany) of Penthievre (on the Quiberon peninsula in the Departement of Morbihan), a member of the Counts and dukes of Penthièvre, who was despatched to the West Country to deal with Anglo-Saxon rebels and included Elliots among his troops.

[23] Other Eliots were sent later to Monmouthshire in South Wales It is possible that Elliots were among the Bretons, who settled in Yorkshire as vassals of the 12th century Earl of Richmond, Alan of Penthièvre, also a member of the family of the Counts and dukes of Penthièvre It appears that another part of the family went to Cambridgeshire.

The first record of the name relates to Henry Elyot at the Priory of St Mary and St. Radegund in Cambridge in about 1180.

Johanne Eliot appears in the 1319 Portsoken (near Aldgate) Subsidy Roll of 1319 with a reference to him being found in 1311 under John Elyot.

[31] William Elyot of Cheshunt (north of London) received land at Kingston upon Thames (south-west London) in 1343: Grant by John, son of John Donnyng of Kyngeston, to William Elyot, of Chestehunte, of a grange and land in Kyngeston.

[37] It is from him that the Elliots of Godalming descend, with their arms being Azure with a fess or (blue with a gold strip across the centre).

Elliot(t)s emigrated or were sent to north Ireland in the early 17th century after the Border area was pacified, following the union of the English and Scottish crowns in 1603.

However, the three contributions from Sussex suggest both a native origin in the area and the unusual J haplotype from southern Europe.