First found in Kent where they had been granted lands after the Norman Conquest in 1066 A.D. The Gaunt or Gant surname is derived from the town of Gaunt or Ghent in Flanders. The first recording of the surname is in 1086 when Gilbert Gaunt, son of Baldwin, the Earl of Flanders, and nephew of Matilda, King William's Queen, was listed in the Domesday Book in 1086.

Many English families left England, to avoid the chaos of their homeland and migrated to the many British colonies abroad. Although the conditions on the ships were extremely cramped, and some travelers arrived diseased, starving, and destitute, once in the colonies, many of the families prospered and made valuable contributions to the cultures of what would become the United States and Canada. Research into the Origins of individual families in North America has revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Gant or a variant listed above: Peter Gaunt who landed in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1637; Robert Gaunt settled in Virginia in 1637; John and Ann Gaunt, who came to New York State with seven children in 1823.

For more information on the last name Gant, the PDF Surname History is available for purchase as well as other products.