Where does my last name come from ?

Question

my last name is mullett, like the fish/hairstyle execpt they are spelt mullet (with 1 t), i think its possible its irish but as far as i know mt decent is of english nationality. can you help ??

Answer 1

Mullet    

Last name origins & meanings:

English and French: from Middle English molet, mulet ‘mullet’, a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or seller of these fish.

nickname from a diminutive of Mule 2.

Answer 2

MULLETT Name Meaning and History

Mullett - ENGLISH: variant spelling of Mullet.  

Mullet - English and French: from Middle English molet, mulet ‘mullet’, a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or seller of these fish - nickname from a diminutive of Mule.  

Mule - English: from a medieval personal name, perhaps Old English Mul (from Old English mul ‘mule’, ‘halfbreed’). This was the name of a brother of Ceadwalla, King of Wessex (died 675), and is also found as a place name element. However, it may not have survived to the Conquest, and Domesday Book Mule, Mulo may instead represent Old Norse Muli, which is probably from Old Norse muli ‘muzzle’, ‘snout’.

English: nickname for a stubborn person or metonymic occupational name for a driver of pack animals, from Middle English mule ‘mule’ (Old English mul, reinforced by Old French mule, both from Latin mula ‘she-mule’).

English: from the medieval female personal name Mulle, variant of Molle, a pet form of Mary.  

French: nickname from mule

Dutch: nickname for a gossip or someone with a large mouth, from Middle Dutch mule  Ã¢Â€Â˜mouth’, ‘snout’.

Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a maker of slippers, from Middle Dutch mule ‘slipper’.

Italian (also Mulé): from the medieval nickname Mulé, Molé, from Arabic mawla ‘gentleman’, ‘lord’, ‘master’, m(a)uley ‘my lord’.

Sicilian and southern Italian: status name, from Arabic mawla ‘master’, ‘owner’.

MULLETT - IRISH (County Wexford): possibly a variant of Millett.

Millett- Irish (mainly County Mayo): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Mealóid, from an occupational or status name derived from Latin miles ‘soldier’

This link has more Mullett surname info:

http://www.ancestry.com/facts/mullett-fa...

Answer 3

This is a map showing its distribution in Britain in 1881, it seems to be concentrated mainly in what looks like Dorset:

http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Map...