Show ContentsLot History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The Lot surname is derived from a medieval given name of uncertain origins.

Early Origins of the Lot family

The surname Lot was first found in Kent where the Pipe Rolls of 1162 include and entry for Alwin Loth. Over one hundred years later, William Lot was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 in Suffolk. The same rolls included: John Lotte in Norfolk; and Andrew, John Lote in Cambridgeshire. The same John Lotte was listed in the Feet of Fines for Essex in 1317. Richard and William atte Lote were listed in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1332 and the Subsidy Rolls for Surrey in 1332. "There is no evidence for the early use of the Biblical Lot in England, but the first form may be this in its French form Loth which was common in Brittany." [1]

Another source claims the name is for someone who was a "dweller on the apportioned share of land, i.e., the allotted land" [2] and another claims that it is an Anglo-Saxon name for "lote" meaning "crafty" or perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon "hlot", "a caster of lots, a fortune-teller." [3]

Returning back to the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, we found: Richard filius Lote, Cambridgeshire; Robert Lote, Cambridgeshire; Walter Lotte, Cambridgeshire; William Lot, Suffolk; and John Lotte, Norfolk. [4]

Early History of the Lot family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lot research. Another 99 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1455 and 1487 are included under the topic Early Lot History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lot Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Lot, Lott, Loth, Lots and others.

Early Notables of the Lot family

Distinguished members of the family include

  • the Lot family of Kent


United States Lot migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Lot Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Peter Lot, who settled in New York, NY in 1652
  • Bartel Lot, who arrived in New Jersey in 1665
Lot Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Johan Conrath Lot, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1754 [5]

New Zealand Lot 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:

Lot Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Mr. James Lot, (b. 1816), aged 23, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Oriental" arriving in Port Nicholson, Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1840 [6]

Contemporary Notables of the name Lot (post 1700) +

  • Lot Myrick Morrill (1813-1883), American politician, Governor of Maine, Secretary of the Treasury
  • Lot Torelli (1835-1896), Italian sculptor
  • Lot Whitcomb (1807-1857), American entrepreneur who built the first steamship on the Willamette River in 1851
  • Lot Davies, American Republican politician, Member of Ohio State House of Representatives from Jackson County; Elected 1897 [7]
  • Lot Norton, American politician, Member of Connecticut State House of Representatives from Salisbury, 1831 [8]
  • Lot W. Reiff, American Democratic Party politician, Member of Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from Berks County, 1899-1902; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Pennsylvania, 1912 [9]
  • Lot Coffman, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at Kansas City, Missouri, 1853-54 [10]
  • Lot Forrester, American politician, Member of Connecticut State House of Representatives from Ridgefield, 1822, 1828 [11]


  1. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  2. Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
  3. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  4. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  5. 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)
  6. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  7. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 4) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  8. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 9) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  9. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 3) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  10. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 20) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  11. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 23) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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