Levitt
An English surname most likely from the old name Levett, long associated with Sussex and southeastern England.
The #6,311 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 57,101 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Levitt is generally treated as a variant spelling of Levett, an old English surname with Norman French roots. The name is usually explained as coming from a medieval personal name such as Lewis or a related form, though older writers sometimes connected it with local or family-name developments rather than a single fixed source. In practice, Levitt is best understood as a spelling variant that developed within the same surname tradition as Levett/Livett.
History
Historical references place Levett and Levitt chiefly in Sussex and neighboring parts of southern England. The name appears among established local families in the 16th century, and later spellings such as Livett are also found in the same region. In modern usage, Levitt is more widely dispersed, especially through later migration to North America and elsewhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Guppy noted the Levett/Levitt group as an old Sussex family of influence, with members documented in the Elizabethan period.
From the historical record
“* Levitt, lightning. I hare a cordial hatred of the hypercritical spirit which delights in preferring the charge of plagiarism against any poet who happens to express a sentiment in words resembling those of some prerions author ; it is not therefore out of anj such feeling tlmt I beg to eall the attention of the…”
— English Surnames: an essay on family nomenclature (4th ed.)