Oakshott

Recorded as Oakshott, Oakeshott, Okeshott, Oxshott, and probably others, this is an English surname. It is locational from a place called Oxshott, in the county of Surrey. This village was first recorded in the year 1188 in the pipe rolls of Surrey as Okesseta and later in 1205 as Hokeset. According to the Dictionary of English Place Names the meaning is 'Ocga's land' from the Olde English pre 7th century personal name 'Ocga' and the word 'sceat, which had various meanings including a parcel of land overgrown by trees and shrub. We think that on the very rudimentary evidence it could equally be from the word 'ock' meaning an oak, and hence a place of oak trees, which is roughly the modern name in any case. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case early examples of surname recordings in the surviving church registers of the city of London include: Katherin Okeshot who was christened on February 23rd 1672 at the church of St Bartholomew, the Great, whilst Mary Oakeshott married William Commins at St Georges Chapel, Mayfair, on December 29th 1760.