Mant

This uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, found chiefly in the southern counties of England, particularly Surrey and Sussex, and is a topographical surname for someone who lived on or by a mound or small hill. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "munt", hill, mound, taken into Middle English in the same form and later influenced by the Old French equivalent "mont", from the Latin "mons, montis". Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. Early examples of the surname include: Henrye Mannte (1589, Sussex); Elizabeth Munt (1600, Suffolk); Nicholas Mante (1605, Sussex); and Margaret Mente (1614, Suffolk). The modern forms are Mant(t), Mont, Mount and Munt, and among the recordings of the name in Church Registers are those of the christening of Edward, son of James Mant, at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, on October 31st 1555, and of the marriage of Edmond Mant and Johan Hartley on February 2nd 1560, at West Dean, near Chichester in Sussex. The family Coat of Arms is blazoned as follows: Sable (black), three annulets in pale between two palets or (gold), a chief argent (silver); the Crest is a gold antelope, passant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Munte, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Dorsetshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.