England
FranceThe name Cabot comes from the ancient Norman culture that was established in Britain after the Conquest of 1066. It was a name for a person with a large head. The surname Cabot was originally derived from the Old French word cabot and was rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form Capoceus.
The surname Cabot was first found in Jersey in the Channel Islands where "it is of frequent occurrence. It appears to be derived from the little fish known by us as the 'bullhead,' but on the shores of Normandy and the Channel Islands, where it abounds, as the chabot or cabot." [1] The same reference continues on: "Sebastian Cabot, the discoverer of Newfoundland (born at Bristol in 1477) is generally believed to be of Venetian extraction, but there is much reason to believe that his father was a native of Jersey." [1]
Another source sheds more light on his heritage: "He was the second son of John Cabot, a Venetian pilot, who afterwards settled in Bristol as a merchant, probably as early as 1472. A confusion between himself and his father on the part of many of his recent biographers has been the main cause of their perplexity. " [2]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cabot research. Another 127 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1455, 1498, 1497, 1483 and 1557 are included under the topic Early Cabot History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Cabot, Cabott, Chabot and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Cabot Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Cabot 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 Cabot or a variant listed above were:
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