Dentt History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Dentt is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the places named Dent in Cumberland and West Yorkshire. Dentt is a local surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. There are a variety of types of local surnames, some of which include: topographic surnames, which could be given to a person who lived beside any physical feature, such as a hill, stream, church or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. The surname Dentt comes from a British hill name, which is cognate with the Old Irish words dinn or dind, which mean hill. The earliest records of the surname Dentt found bearers of the name to be in Yorkshire, on the border of Westmorland (now part of Cumbria).

Early Origins of the Dentt family

The surname Dentt was first found in West Riding of Yorkshire (now Cumbria) at Dent, a village and civil parish in the parish of Sedbergh, in Dentdale, a narrow valley on the western slopes of the Pennines. 1

The origin of the place name is uncertain; it may have been a river name, but was first recorded as Denet c. 1202. 2

Thomas de Dent ( Dyvelyn, Denton, or Dublin) (died after 1361) was an English-born cleric and judge who held high office in Ireland during the reign of King Edward III. He was born at Dent, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was sometimes known as "Thomas Dyvelyn," or "Thomas of Dublin", or as Thomas Denton.

Early History of the Dentt family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dentt research. Another 144 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1131, 1571, 1575, 1576, 1579, 1580, 1584, 1607, 1630, 1676, 1680 and 1689 are included under the topic Early Dentt History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Dentt 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 Dentt family name include Dent, Dente, Dentt, Dentte and others.

Early Notables of the Dentt family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Col. Thomas Dent, Sr., (1630-1676), Justice, Sheriff, and member of the Lower House of the Maryland General Assembly.Arthur Dent (d. 1607), was an English Puritan divine, matriculated as a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge, in November 1571, graduated B.A. in 1575-1576, M.A. in 1579, and was on 17 Dec. 1580 instituted to the rectory of South Shoebury, Essex. "About 1584 he was much troubled by Aylmer, his diocesan, for refusing to wear the surplice and omitting the sign of the cross in baptism. His name is appended to the petition sent to the...
Another 115 words (8 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dentt Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Dentt family

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 Dentt surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Rich and Jo Dent who were banished to Barbados in 1635; and later transferred to the mainland. Eliza Dent settled in Virginia in 1643; Francis Dent settled in Salem Massachusetts in 1630.

The Dentt Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Concordia et industria
Motto Translation: By concord and industry.

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)