DeWitt
A surname usually derived from a Dutch place-name element meaning “by the wood” or “at the forest.”
The #1,338 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,718 Americans shares it.
Etymology
DeWitt is generally treated as a Dutch surname formed from the definite article de and a place-name element related to woud or witt in older forms, often interpreted as pointing to a location near woodland or a settlement so named. In surname use, it is typically understood as a locative name: someone was identified by residence in or origin from a place called De Witt or a similar Dutch form. Because the OCR excerpt is fragmentary and not a direct entry, the exact historical spelling and derivation should be taken cautiously.
History
The name is best known in Dutch and Dutch-American contexts, where it appears in records as a family name with several spelling variants. In North America it became established among descendants of Dutch settlers and later spread more widely in the United States. The surname is also associated with the prominent DeWitt family in early American history, including statesman DeWitt Clinton, whose given name preserves the family surname form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
DeWitt is one of those surnames that often keeps a capital W in modern American usage, even though it began as a two-part Dutch-style form.
From the historical record
“'Jewham. A freq. loc. n. Dewitt. See Newt Mewling. G. Neuling; a p.n. Dim. of nyr (young)”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)