What Nationality is this last name ( Mote)?

Question

What Nationality is this last name ( Mote)?

Answer 1

www.ancestry.com

Motte Name Meaning and History

1.French and English: topographic name for someone who lived by a fortified stronghold, Old French, Middle English "motte". The surname may also be a habitational name from any of the places in France named with this word.

English: variant spelling of Mott 2.

2. German: habitational name from Motte in the Saarland or Motten in Bavaria.

Mote --French and English: variant of Motte (number 1 above).

www.familysearch.org has these varied spellings:

MOTT;  MAT; MATE ; MOTES ; MOOTZ ; MOTZ ; DE MOET ;

MAAT; MOOTS ; MOATES; MOTES ; MODE; MOAD ; MOITT ;MOUTE ; MOOTE ;MOOT; MOYETT ; MOT ;MOAT ;

DE LA MOTE; DELMOTTE; MOTET; MOATZ;  MOTHA; VON MOTE; MOUTH; MOTA; MOUT;MUTE; MOUTT; MOOTE ; MOYTE; MOOTT--just to give a few (??) examples.  

    The name, in all its varied forms, is found in the US (14 states, with the majority being in Alabama); Mexico, England; Sweden; Australia; Pacific Islands (French Polynesia); Spain; Portugal; S. America (Peru, Bolivia, etc); Norway; Germany; France; Belgium; Netherlands; Scotland; Ireland; and Barbados (Caribbean).

     The earliest listing I found was this:

Joan DE LA MOTE---birth:  About 1313 in England.

     The earliest with the oddest first name was this:

XPOFFER MOUTT--B.   04 MAR 1569   Spilsby, Lincoln, England  (The first name might have been CHRISTOPHER or something similar. I've seen an X used occasionally to abbreviate the "Christ" part of the name)

Answer 2

Several persons repeat the same data.. and don't clarify what it means.. that a person with the name Mote can come from any one of several places.  MY ancestor with this name (if I had one) could come from France.. and YOUR ancestor with the very same name might come from Germany.

In other words.. the name itself does not HAVE a 'nationality'.. what matters is the origin of the individual person who happens to have the name.

Ah, yes, our old friend houseofnames.. well, they claim it to be of ancient origin in Essex, England.  So much for THEIR meticulous "research", that they missed the persons with the name who come from other countries, and show up in valid records.

Never mind.. the UK College of Arms, who is the legal authority for coats of arms/ heraldry, explicitly says that only individuals are granted coats of arms.  houseofnames (and other keychain/coffee mug franchises, most from the same parent company) tells you that the legal authority on the topic of heraldry, doesn't know the "facts".  Somehow, this fact continues to be overlooked by some posters on yahoo, no matter how hard we try.  

Short version, my friend.. you cannot assume that any name has "one" nationality.. and avoid keychain franchises like the plague.  To know the origin of your ancestor, requires tracing the actual person to his/ her place of origin.

Answer 3

see houseofnames.com

Answer 4

French and English.  A variant of Motte.

Place of

Origin Mote Immigrants

England 8

Germany 4

Austria 1

Lottigians,Italy 1

Ireland 1

Hungary 1

Compiled by Ancestry.com from the New York Passenger Lists.

Answer 5

All information below is from ancestry.com

Although a chart is provided of Places of Origin of immigrants, when going into the ethnicity itself, the number of some groups vary a bit.

England 8 (same as first response)

Germany 4 (same as first response)

Austria 2 (varies from first response)

Lottigians,Italy 1 (same as first response)

Ireland 1 (same as first response)

Hungary (Magyar) 9 (varies from first response)

(The main difference is that there were quite a few more Hungarians than listed in the ancestry.com chart)

MOTE is a French and English: variant of Motte

MOTTE

1. French and English: topographic name for someone who lived by a fortified stronghold, Old French, Middle English motte. The surname may also be a habitational name from any of the places in France named with this word.

2. English: variant spelling of Mott 2.

3. German: habitational name from Motte in the Saarland or Motten in Bavaria.

FYI - 160 MOTES served in the U.S. Civil War - 99 for the Confederacy and 61 for the Union...