Millett

This interesting name has two possible origins, the first and most likely to be applicable to bearers of the modern name is from an early medieval English and French metonymic occupational name for one who grew or sold Millet or panic grass, a millet-like grain for animal feed. The derivation is from a diminutive form of the Olde French word 'mil', from the Latin 'miluim', Millet. The second possible origin is also French and introduced by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and is a diminutive form of the personal name 'Milo' or 'Miles', thought to be a Germanic equivalent of the Slavic element 'mil' meaning 'mercy'. Documents from the Abbey of Bec, in Wiltshire, record one 'Milot' in circa 1248. The modern surname can be found as 'Millet' and Millett, William Millett and Beatre Vodell were married at Sr. Michael, Cornhill, London in 1696. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo Milot, which was dated 1206, The Norfolk Curia Rolls, during the reign of King John, Lackland, 1199 - 1216. 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.