Mote History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The vast movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of England of 1066 brought the Mote family name to the British Isles. They lived in Essex. The name, however, descends from the family's place of residence prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Mott a town in Cotes du Nord, Normandy. 1

Early Origins of the Mote family

The surname Mote was first found in Essex, where the family held a family seat from very early times, having been granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Moate (Irish: An Móta) is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. In this case the town's name was derived from the term "motte-and-bailey," an early Norman fortification with a wooden or stone keep. The Norman earthwork is still visible behind the buildings on the main street.

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 listed a wide range of spellings throughout ancient England: Motte (without surname), Buckinghamshire; William Moth, Norfolk; Basilia Motte, Cambridgeshire; and Richard Mote, Oxfordshire. 2

"In the 13th century, Motte, sometimes written Mot, was a common Cambridgeshire name, but it also occurred then in Essex, Hunts, Kent, Bucks, and Oxfordshire." 3

However, Yorkshire proved to be a stronghold for the family for many years: "The Motts have found a home in this county for at least 600 years. In the 13th century the name of Motte occurred in Bradfield in this county. From the 14th to the 17th century there resided a notable gentle family of Mott at Shalford; some of the members lived at Braintree, in the same neighbourhood, in the 16th and 17th centuries; Sherne Hall, Shalford, was in the possession of the family in the 17th century." 3

Early History of the Mote family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mote research. Another 152 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1379, 1583, 1588, 1686, 1693, 1710 and 1738 are included under the topic Early Mote History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Mote Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Mott, Motte, Mote, De Mott, De Motte, Demott and others.

Early Notables of the Mote family

Another 35 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Mote Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Mote Ranking

In the United States, the name Mote is the 10,447^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Mote migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Mote or a variant listed above were:

Mote Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

James Mote, who landed in Virginia in 1658 5

Mote Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Giro Mote, who arrived in Texas in 1850-1906 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Mote (post 1700) +

Kelly Mote, former professional American football player
David Mote (b. 1940), retired American NASCAR Grand National driver
Fredrick W. Mote (1922-2005), American Sinologist and a professor of History
Clayton Daniel Mote Jr. (b. 1937), American President of the University of Maryland
Toni Mote, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Virginia, 2004 6
Donald Mote, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Indiana, 1960 6
William Henry Mote (1803-1871), English stipple and line engraver
Edward Mote, English pastor and hymn writer
Ashley Mote (b. 1936), English non-inscrit Member of the European Parliament
Lauren Mote, British child actress

Citations +

Barber, Henry, British Family Names London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, 1894. 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)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html