Hollitt History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The Hollitt family has descended from the ancient Anglo-Saxon word "haletta," meaning "one who is hailed or greeted-a hero, an eminent man." 1

Other sources claim the name came from the expression "of the hall head" 2 or "dweller at the Hall-Head land." 3

Early Origins of the Hollitt family

The surname Hollitt was first found in Kent where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Hollitt family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hollitt research. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1628, 1652, 1656, 1683, 1687, 1689, 1690, 1691, 1692, 1713, 1722 and 1744 are included under the topic Early Hollitt History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hollitt Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Hollitt family name include Hallett, Hallet, Hollett, Hollet, Hollitt and many more.

Early Notables of the Hollitt family

Notables of the family at this time include Joseph Hallett or Halet (1628?-1689), an English ejected minister, "born at Bridport, Dorsetshire, about 1628. He became by his own exertions a good Greek scholar and proficient in Hebrew. In 1652 he was ‘called to the work of the ministry’ at Hinton St. George, Somersetshire, a sequestered living, and was ordained to this charge on 28 Oct. 1652 in St. Thomas's Church, Salisbury, by the ‘classical presbytery of Sarum.’ " 4His son, Joseph...
Another 81 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hollitt Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hollitt migration to Canada +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Hollitt surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Hollitt Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Thomas Hollitt is recorded in Burin, Newfoundland in 1805 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Hollitt (post 1700) +

Raye Hollitt (b. 1964), American actress and female bodybuilder, known by her stage name Zap

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0