This surname of BILLETT was a French medieval given name, the son of Robillet, itself a diminutive of Robert, meaning fame-bright. This name was originally derived from the Germanic personal name, composed of the elements HROD and BERHT. The name was found occasionally in England before the Conquest, but in the main it was introduced into England by the Normans, and quickly became popular among all classes of society. It was also an occupational name for a secretary, from a diminutive of the Old French word BULLE, rendered in Latin documents as BULLA, a round object applied to the seal on papal missives and then onto the documents themselves. However, the sense of the name did not become established until the 15th century. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but most of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name. The earliest of the name on record appears to be Robert le BELYETERE, who was documented in County Cambridge in the year 1273, and Edmund BETTETERE, of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. The associated coat of arms is recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. Confirmed at County Norfolk. |
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