Marritt

This surname is adopted from the medieval female personal name, Mariot, a diminutive of Mary, itself coming from the Hebrew and probably meaning 'wished-for child'. The suffix 'ot' attached to a forename indicated the diminutive or pet form. One Mariota Hoppesort is recorded in the 1195 'Fine Court Rolls of Suffolk' and a John filius (son of) Mariot appears in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire (1273). In 1677 Richard Marryott married a Catherine Bradbourne in Canterbury (Marriage Licence Records). In the modern idiom the name has three spelling variations: Marriott, Marritt and Marryatt. An interesting namebearer being John Marriott nicknamed 'the great eater' because of his insatiable appetite. He died in 1653.The Coat of Arms granted to the family has the blazon of a silver shield thereon three bars azure, on a red canton a fleur-de-lis in gold, (the canton being the highest award in heraldry, given for bravery, in this case against the French). The crest being, out of a ducal coronet a ram's head attired in gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hervicus Mariot, which was dated 1185, in the Knights Templars Records, Warwickshire, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as 'The Builder of Churches', 1154-1189. 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.