Alit History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Alit

What does the name Alit mean?

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor and may be a form of the name Eliot. 1 However, another source claims the name is from the Old French name Aalot or Allot. 2

"Aluiet, [was] a tenant in chief; and Aliet, a Saxon tenant in the Domesday Book." 3 4

Early Origins of the Alit family

The surname Alit was first found in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk where the singular name Alote was recorded c. 1191. A few years later, Adam filius Alot was recorded in the Pipe Rolls of 1203 in Lincolnshire. The Subsidy Rolls for Worcestershire lists William Allot as holding lands there in 1275 and in Sussex, Walter Alote was listed in the Subsidy Rolls for 1296. 2

Rylands Lay Subsidy Rolls of 1332 includes entries for William Afotessone, Lancashire; Phillip Allote, Huntingdonshire; and Peter Allot, Cambridgeshire. The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 includes two entries for the family: Adam Alot; and Richard Alot. 1

Early History of the Alit family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Alit research. Another 271 words (19 lines of text) covering the years 1199, 1212, 1273, 1286, 1332, 1379, 1568, 1579, 1581, 1587, 1590, 1591, 1600, 1707, 1750 and 1781 are included under the topic Early Alit History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Alit 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 Allott, Allett, Allette, Hallott, Arlette, Arlett, Allet, Alett, Alet, Allatt, Alatt, Allat, Allatte, Allot, Allote, Alot, Alitt, Ailet, Alyet, Alletson, Aletson, Alotessone and many more.

Early Notables of the Alit family

John Allott, Lord Mayor of London in 1591, one of the highest political posts in England at that time. William Allott (d. 1590?), was an English Catholic divine. A native of Lincolnshire, he received his education in the University of Cambridge, though he does not appear to have graduated. When Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, he retired to the continent, and took up his residence at Louvain, where he studied divinity for some years and was ordained priest. He afterwards lived for...
Another 81 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Alit Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Alit 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 Alit or a variant listed above were:

Alit Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Gottfried Alit, aged 19, who landed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1876 5

Sources +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Barber, Henry, British Family Names London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, 1894. Print.
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
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)