Show ContentsBoot History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Boot came to England with the ancestors of the Boot family in the Norman Conquest in 1066. The surname Boot is for a maker or seller of boots. 1 The name is derived from the Middle English word bote, which means boot. They were originally from Buat a castle near Falais in Normandy. 2

Early Origins of the Boot family

The surname Boot was first found in Warwickshire where Hugh Bote was listed in the Pipe Rolls of 1186. Later, William Bote was recorded in the Hundredorum Rolls for Cambridgeshire in 1279 and in 1354, Adam Boot was listed in Kent. 1

Early History of the Boot family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Boot research. Another 76 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1600, 1604, 1628, 1630, 1641, 1642, 1650 and 1653 are included under the topic Early Boot History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Boot 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 Boot, Boots, Boote, Bootes and others.

Early Notables of the Boot family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

  • Arnold Boate, De Boot, Bootius or Botius (1600?-1653?), Hebraist, the son of Godefrid de Boot of Gorcom, Holland. Born about 1600 he graduated at the university of Leyden, where he received the degree...
  • Gerard Boate, De Boot, Bootius or Botius (1604-1650), physician, brother of Arnold Boate [q. v.], was born at Gorcum, Holland, in 1604. He entered the university of Leyden as a medical student 21 June...

Boot Ranking

In Netherlands, the name Boot is the 297th most popular surname with an estimated 5,032 people with that name. 3


United States Boot 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 Boot or a variant listed above were:

Boot Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Francis Boot, who landed in Virginia in 1623 4
  • Joanne Boot who settled in Virginia in 1652
Boot Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Johannes Boot, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1728 4
Boot Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Harriet Boot, who arrived in New York in 1840 4
  • M Boot, aged 36, who arrived in Baltimore, Maryland in 1847 4
  • Arie, Boot Jr., who landed in Iowa in 1849 4
  • Arie, Jr Boot, who arrived in Iowa in 1849 4
  • Mrs. Arie Boot, who landed in Iowa in 1853 4
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

New Zealand Boot migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Boot Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Mr. Walter Boot, (b. 1863), aged Infant, English settler from Nottingham travelling from London aboard the ship "Tiptree" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 20th January 1864 5
  • Mr. James Boot, (b. 1830), aged 33, English joiner from Nottingham travelling from London aboard the ship "Tiptree" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 20th January 1864 5
  • Mrs. Jane Boot, (b. 1830), aged 33, English settler from Nottingham travelling from London aboard the ship "Tiptree" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 20th January 1864 5
  • Mr. James A. Boot, (b. 1854), aged 9, English settler from Nottingham travelling from London aboard the ship "Tiptree" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 20th January 1864 5
  • Miss Melicent Boot, (b. 1856), aged 7, English settler from Nottingham travelling from London aboard the ship "Tiptree" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 20th January 1864 5
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Boot (post 1700) +

  • Max Boot (b. 1969), American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian
  • Lorenzo Boot, American politician, Mayor of Brigham City, Utah, 1953 6
  • John Campbell Boot KBE (1889-1956), 2nd Baron Trent, English businessman and philanthropist who expanded the Boots Company into a major national company
  • Edmund "Eddie" Boot (1915-1999), English professional footballer
  • Charles Boot (1851-1931), English creator and builder of Pinewood Studios
  • Henry Albert Howard "Harry" Boot, English physicist with the Royal Naval Scientific Service
  • Henry Boot (1851-1931), English builder, eponym of the Henry Boot corporation
  • John Boot (1815-1860), English founder of Boots the Chemists
  • Mr. C. A. Boot, British sheriff, who held the position of Sheriff of Nottingham, England from 1871 to 1872
  • Vernon Patrick "Pat" Boot (1914-1947), New Zealand middle distance runner
  • ... (Another 1 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


  1. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  2. The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
  3. "Most Common Last Names in Netherlands." Forebears, https://forebears.io/netherlands/surnames
  4. 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)
  5. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  6. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 12) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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