Ott
A surname with multiple possible roots, including a shortened form of old personal names like Otto, Odo, or Othar, and in some cases a variant spelling related to Oates or other names.
The #1,373 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,996 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Ott is historically linked to several short medieval personal names, especially forms such as Otto, Odo, and related Germanic names beginning with Od- or Ott-. These names were common across medieval England and the Continent, and the surname likely arose as a patronymic from one of them. Some older surname dictionaries also connect Ott with variant spellings or shortened forms of names like Oates, though the evidence is not always clear-cut.
History
Lower explicitly treats Ott as a form related to Oates, while Barber points to several medieval personal-name sources, including Otto/Odo and Old Norse or Germanic parallels. Because the name is short and the spelling overlaps with several different historical names, Ott may have arisen independently in more than one family line. The surname is now found in English-speaking countries, especially the United States and Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same short root that lies behind Ott also helped generate a whole cluster of medieval names across Europe, so a tiny surname can hide a surprisingly wide family tree.
From the historical record
“OTT 251 ous OSEIMAN. The same as Osmond. OSGOOD. An A-Sax. personal name.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom