BOOT
Boot is a surname of multinational origin, appearing within the Dutch, English and German linguistic traditions. In the British Isles it has been recorded in England from the late twelfth century, with the surname appearing on a variety of medieval documentary sources.
The English form of the name is traditionally interpreted as a toponymic or topographic designation. The Old English word bōt meant a bend or curve, and is believed to have been applied to a person who lived near a bend in a road or a stream. When the place name was adopted as a surname, it thus identifies the bearer as a resident of such a bend.
Alternatively, Boot may have arisen as an occupational surname. The Middle English word bote was the noun for a boot, and a bootmaker or boot‑seller would have been identified by the name of the item they produced or traded. In this sense, the surname is comparable with other craft surnames such as Smith or Carpenter.
There is also evidence that Boot was adopted by English speakers from the Old French word bote, the same root used in the Middle English sense of boot, with the addition of an -s suffix. This variant would similarly indicate a maker of boots, with the plural suffix functioning as a patronymic or occupational marker.
In addition to the occupational derivation, Boot has been linked to a place name in Cumbria. A settlement near Ravenglass was recorded as Boot in the medieval period, a name probably derived from the Old English pre‑7th current element butt, meaning a tree stump or a stump of timber. When a by‑name was formed from a locational surname, the final -s often served to signal “of that place”, so Boots or Boot could mean “one from Boot”. Early documentary evidence includes records of Adam de Botte in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Norfolk, William Bote in the 1279 Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire, and Adam Boot in a 1345 Kent catalogue of deeds.
The earliest extant spelling of the surname is that of Hugh Bote, who appears in the Pipe Rolls dated 1186, during the reign of King Henry I, who ruled from 1100 to 1135. The roll registers the name in Warwickshire, confirming the usage of a Boot form in late twelfth‑century England.
Documents throughout the early modern period record notable bearers of the surname. Arnold Boot, who lived from 1600 to 1653, was a distinguished herbalist and served as physician‑general of English forces in Ireland. Other recorded individuals include Anthonye, son of James Boots, christened on 18 May 1606 at St. Botolph without Aldgate in London, and Thomas Boots, an infant christened on 6 December 1701 in Hartshead, Yorkshire.
Typical given names associated with the Boot surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Alison
- Barbara
- Christine
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Jacqueline
- Jennifer
- Karen
- Lesley
- Louise
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Boot in...
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There are approximately 2,383 people named Boot in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,642nd most common surname in Britain. Around 37 in a million people in Britain are named Boot.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Boot
- Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent - Business person (1850 to 1931)
- Harry Boot - Physicist (1917 to 1983)
- John Boot, 2nd Baron Trent - Businessman (1889 to 1956)
- Micky Boot - Football player
- Ryan Boot - Football player
- Eddie Boot - Football player (1915 to 1999)
- Leonard Boot - Football player (1899 to 1937)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.