Recorded as Drillet, Drilot and Drillot, this is a surname of the Channel Islands, although clearly one of French origins. It would seem to derive from the French name Drillaud, also recorded as Dreillard and Dreillaud, and as such to be occupational for a maker of chiffon fabrics called 'drille'. This is probably confirmed by the earliest recordings in the Channel Islands which coincide with the Huguenot protestant exodus from France which reached its height between the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and about 1740. At this time we find the first recordings of the name in the church registers of the Channel Islands, of which one of the first is that of Andre Drilot at St Saviour church in Jersey, on June 29th 1712. Thereafter the surname seems to have moved to Guernsey, because it is in that island where most of the later recordings are to be found. These include Elizabeth Drillot, the daughter of Thomas Drillot, who was christened at Catel, Guernsey, on December 24th 1841, and later that of Amelia, the daughter of Henri Drillot, who was christened at St Savour, Guernsey, on November 20th 1875.

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