Elliott Name Study

Profile managers: One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message] and Alex Elliott [send private message]

How to Join

Please contact the project leader Alex Elliott or post a comment to the right. If you have any questions, just ask. Thanks!

To add profiles to the Elliott ONS

To go to the Elliott Name Study category page Click here

Goals

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about one surname and the variants of that name. The hope is that other researchers like you will join our study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect.

Task List

• Research and discuss the origin of the name Elliott.
• Identify Gateway ancestors and add them to the Elliott Name Study Category - the template for this One Name Study|name=Elliott - must have two { of these brackets front and at end for it to work } see: (Category:Elliott Name Study) page
• Find connections between all Elliotts around the world through common ancestors.
• Locate any relevant informational websites and resources and add them to the Recommended Reads section below.
  • Add and compare DNA test results for connections. (Optional but strongly recommended.)

Elliott Name Origin

Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name was historically given to males, females named Elliot have increased from 414 in 2009 to 770 in 2013, in United States. :The origin of the surname is obscure, perhaps due to much of the genealogy of the Eliott clan being burnt in the destruction of the castle at Stobs in 1712 AD. The clan society usually accepts that the name originated from the town and river Elliot in Angus, Scotland. Some other sources suggest it may be derived from a French form of Elias, which is itself derived from the biblical name "Elijah". Yet other sources claim that the Scottish surnames (Eliott, Elliot) originate from the Ellot Scottish border-clan, from a transformation of the name Elwold. There are also records in the Domesday Book of the name spelled "Ailiet", thought to originate from an old English name "Æþelgeat" (meaning "noble gate") and leading to the English and Scottish given name spelled "Elyat", which in turn leads to the modern alternative spelling of the name "Elyot".

It is generally agreed that spelling of the surname originated in the early 13th century as "Eliot" as there is reference to "Geoffrey Eliot", Abbot of Hyde, in documents linked to the creation of the Magna Carta.^[1]

Stories

William the Conqueror’s troops landed without encountering any resistance at Pevensey, near Hastings, on the 28th of September, 1066. The Archers landed first. They wore short habits and had their hair cut close. Next followed the horsemen wearing steel head pieces, tunics, cuirasses, long spears, and straight two-edged swords. Next came the workmen of the army, pioneers, carpenters, and smiths, who unloaded on the strand, piece by piece, three wooded castles framed and prepared beforehand. The Duke (William) was the last to come ashore. Upon setting his feet upon land, made a false step and fell upon his face. A murmur immediately arose and some voices cried out, “God preserve us!”

This is a bad sign, but William, resting, instantly said,

" “What is the matter? What astonished you? I have grasped the land with my hands and by the splendor of God how far so ever it may extend it is mine — it is yours.”

This quickly allayed the effect of the bad omen. Sir William De Aliote, then holding a distinguished rank in the invading army, drew his sword and swore by the honor of a soldier that he would maintain, at the hazard of his blood, that right.

From this valiant Knight are descended the celebrated Lord Heathfield, the Earls of Minto, the St. Hermains, Sir William Frances, and Elliot of Stobs Baronet. ^[2]

Legend has it that the extra "t" in Elliott arose when a branch of the Elliots adopted Christianity. Differences in spelling can be distinguished in this rhyme:

The double L and single T / Descent from Minto and Wolflee, / The double T and single L / Mark the old racce in Stobs that dwell. / The single L and single T / The Eliots of St Germans be, / But double T and double L, / Who they are nobody can tell.

Robert Bell in The Book of Scots-Irish Family Names adds: "For double L and double T, / the Scots should look across the sea!" He pointed out that 71 of 76 births of children by that name in Ireland in 1890 spelt it "Elliott." Elliot(t)s emigrated or were sent to Ireland in the early 17th century after the unification of the English and Scottish crowns. The Elliot(t)s were notorious reivers – cattle thieves – in the Scottish-English border area and, as such, a thorn in the side of both governments. Many settled in county Fermanagh.^[1]

Recommended Reads

• GENEALOGY of the ELLIOTT FAMILY By Leon D. Elliott. Archive.org
• Surname Database: Elliott Last Name Origin
• Familytreecircles: Elliott Family Tree and Elliott Genealogy Records
• Coat of Arms Database: Elliott Family History and Coat Of Arms
• House of Names: Elliott Surname, Family Crest and Coat of Arms
• Clan Elliot on Wikipedia
• Elliott (and Border Reivers) DNA Project: Freepages
• Elwald to Redheugh
• Elliot Clan Geneology

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Elliot Name Wikipedia
2. ↑ GENEALOGY of the ELLIOTT FAMILY By Leon D. Elliott. Archive.org