Fotitt

This name derives from the Olde pre 7th Century "fot" meaning "foot" and was originally given as a descriptive nickname to someone who travelled on foot, perhaps a soldier or messenger. Alternatively, the name may have been topographic for residence by a race course. The derivation in this case is from the Olde English "feoht" meaning "race" or "contest". The name of the sport was for example, transferred to Follifoot in Yorkshire, (the first element being "foli", a foal). One, Ernui Fot, under-tenant in the Domesday Book for Cheshire, dated 1066, may have derived his name from either of these sources. The form Footitt, with variant spellings Footitte, Footet, Footit etc., is particularly well recorded in church registers of Nottinghamshire and London from the late 16th Century, (see below), the diminutive suffix "itt" or "ett" means "little" or "son of Fo(o)t". On August 9th 1629 John Footitt, an infant was christened in St. Giles Cripplegate, London and on April 26th 1666 Christopher Footitt and Elizabeth Tony were married in North Clifton, Nottinghamshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elizabeth Footitte married Hugh Collington, which was dated May 27th 1584 in Headon, Nottinghamshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.