Dorsett
A surname usually treated as a variant of Dorset, originally pointing to someone from Dorset in southwest England.
The #6,514 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,283 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Dorsett is generally understood as a spelling variant of Dorset, the English county name. Dorset itself comes from the Old English form meaning “the people of Dorchester,” with Dorchester deriving from a Romano-British place-name plus the Old English suffix -set meaning “inhabitants.” In surname use, the name would have identified someone who came from Dorset or was associated with that county.
History
The surname is found in English-language records as a regional name and later spread to North America through migration. The extra -t spelling is a common orthographic variant and does not usually signal a different origin. In older sources, names similar to Dorsett are sometimes noted alongside Norman-style bynames, but the main modern explanation remains the county-based one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The county of Dorset has given rise to several surname spellings, and Dorsett is one of the less common ones that survived as a family name in its own right.
From the historical record
“l)or=et or Euglar.J, c. UrJ, UU. Dorsett. 6Vr Dor.SF.T. Uorvcli, for De Orival, or De Aurea Vallo, of Xorm.;nd_v. GeolTry, "William, "iJalph, ^Valu•l■ do Auro- vallo of XorniAJidy lli?0 (MKS).”
— The Norman People and their existing descendants in the British dominions and the United States