Mollett

This interesting name with variant spellings Mollett, Mollet and Mollitt is a diminutive form of "Moll", itself a diminutive of the female personal name "Mary", usually taken to mean "wished-for-child", or "rebellion", from the earliest Hebrew versions of the name, "Marah" and "Miryam". As a christian name Mary was not much found in western Europe until after 1100, when the Crusaders brought it back from the East. It was first popular in England in the French form "Marie" and after some disfavour during the Reformation and the reign of "Bloody" Mary 1, (1553 - 1558), it became the most popular girl's name in England up to the end of the 19th Century. There are many diminutives, Moll, Molly, Poll and Polly as metronymic surnames, i.e., a line descended from the mother's side. Among the recordings of the name in London are those of the marriage of Charles Mollett and Elizabeth Bootes at St. Helen's, Bishopgate, on February 25th 1593, and the christening of Hugh, son of Christopher and Joane Mollett, at St. Andrew's, Holborn, on October 30th 1631. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Molot, which was dated 1275, The Norfolk Hundred Rolls, during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.