Emmett
A surname usually explained as coming from the medieval pet name Em, short for Emma.
The #9,030 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,312 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most authorities treat Emmett as a diminutive or pet-form surname from the female given name Emma, with the short form Em expanded by an ending like -ot or -et. In medieval English records, spellings such as Emmot, Emmet, and Emmott appear alongside Emmett, reflecting local spelling variation. A minority explanation found in later reference works links it to the Norman-French personal name Amiot, so the surname may not have a single origin in every case.
History
The name is well attested in northern England, especially Yorkshire, in medieval and early modern records. Historical forms include Emmot, Emmott, Emmetson, and Emmotson, showing both simple diminutive and patronymic development. The surname later spread more widely in Britain and then overseas, including North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 15th-century Yorkshire record cited by Bardsley spells the name as Emmote, showing how fluid surname spelling could be in the medieval period.
From the historical record
“a great Yorkshire name. Tillotson was the son of Tillot, which was the dim. of Till, which was the nick of Matilda. All the diminutives in et and et were added to the nick of the name, which was always one syllable. Emmett or Emmott, or Emmetson or Emmotson, are sprung from Emma, but the nick being Em the dim. was…”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances