Pitts History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Pitts

What does the name Pitts mean?

The distinguished surname Pitts emerged among the industrious people of Flanders, which was an important trading partner and political ally of Britain during the Middle Ages. As a result of the frequent commercial intercourse between the Flemish and English nations, many Flemish migrants settled in Britain. In early times, people were known by only a single name. However, as the population grew and people traveled further afield, it became increasingly necessary to assume an additional name to differentiate between bearers of the same personal name. The manner in which hereditary surnames arose is interesting. Local surnames are derived from where the original bearer lived, was born, or held land. Flemish surnames of this type frequently are prefixed by de la or de le, which mean of the or from the. The Pitts family originally lived in the settlement of Pett in Kent, in the place named Pitt in Hampshire, or in any low-lying area resembling a pit or hollows. 1

The surname Pitts is derived from the Old English words pytt, which means pit. Pitts belongs to both the category of habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads, or other places, and the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees.

However, one source notes that the family could have been Norman in origin as the Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae noted “Richard and Turstin Peet are mentioned 1198. “From the [coat of ] arms the well-known family of Pitt is the same as that of Pet or Pette of Kent and Sussex. ” 2

Early Origins of the Pitts family

The surname Pitts was first found in Dorset at Blandford (Blandford Forum), a parish, in the union of Blandford, hundred of Coombs-Ditch. “The church [of Blandford], with the exception of the tower, was rebuilt in 1711, by Governor Pitt, ancestor of the Earl of Chatham and of Lord Camelford; it is in the Grecian style, and contains the remains of many of the Pitt family.” 3 Thomas Pitt (1653-1726), the famed English merchant and progenitor of the American family of note was born here.