Amott / Amatt / Arnott

& variations

Index

Some Notes on Variations

There are various ways of spelling this surname, and for a long time, we thought our ancestors name was ARNOTT and that the 'r' and the 'n' were sometimes mistaken as an 'm'. Due to recent research, we now believe that, at least in the case of our family, the 'm' is correct. However, there is still controversy over whether it should be AMOTT with an 'o' or AMATT with an 'a'. In at least one instance, the officiating minister wrote AMOTT, but the register was signed AMATT.

All of our documentaion of this branch of the family tree has been taken from written and printed records. We have never heard the name spoken by a relative bearing that name, so neither do we know the correct pronunciation. Even Amotts and Amatts whom we have met during our research, seem to pronounce it differently. One clue, however could be in the enumeration of the 1861 census, when our family is recorded as AYMOT.

So, perhaps we should say it as "AY" as in "hay" "MUT" as in "hut", or perhaps not! Any suggestions?
Anyway, because the majority of documents pertaining to our family have AMOTT, we have used that way of spelling it throughout our Family Tree. Who knows, we may have to change it again one day!

Our earliest Amott ancestor is Thomas who was born about 1788. We have searched many Nottinghamshire records for his baptism, but now suspect that he may be related to the Derbyshire Amotts & Amatts who originated around the Crich, Pentrich & Fritchley areas. Quite a lot of these families moved to Nottingham, and are entered in the various census. We have collected all the Amott / Amatt / Arnot & variation in all the major census of Nottinghamshire, and have got all except the 1881 census transcribed so far.