Elliot
A surname with more than one likely root, but often treated as a form of Elliot or Elliott, itself linked to medieval forms of Elijah/Elias or to place-name origin in some Scottish families.
The #4,160 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,246 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a variant of Elliott, which in turn is commonly connected with the medieval personal names Elias or Elijah, ultimately from Hebrew. In some older surname scholarship, however, Elliot is also treated as a patronymic formed from a pet form such as Alot/Elot, and a few writers mention a possible local place-name source in Scotland. Because the historical record is mixed, the safest summary is that Elliot has multiple plausible origins, with the personal-name explanation the most widely accepted.
History
The surname is well established in both England and Scotland, and older records show many spelling variants, including forms like Alletson, Eletson, and Ellot. Bardsley and Lower both discuss it as a related form of Elliot/Elliott, while Lower also notes a Scottish tradition connecting some Elliots with a place called Elliot. The modern surname is especially familiar in Scotland and the English-speaking world more broadly.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers were not fully agreed on Elliot’s origin, so it is one of those names where the paper trail is almost as interesting as the family tree.
From the historical record
“LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C 1903 r UEST OF SAMUEL GRANT OL»PHAN 1937 J”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)