This unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from any of the various places named with the Olde English pre 7th Century "fox", fox, and "cot", shelter, burrow. These places include: Foscott in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, recorded respectively as "Foxescote" and "Foxcote" in the Domesday Book of 1086; Foscote in Wiltshire and Northamptonshire, appearing respectively as "Foxcotone" in the Saxon Chartulary, dated 940, and as "Foxcote" in the 1197 Feet of Fines for Northamptonshire; Foxcote in Gloucestershire and Warwickshire; and Foxcott in Hampshire. Locational surnames were originally given to the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their place of origin to settle elsewhere. Early recordings of the surname include: Ralph de Foxcot (Essex, 1273) and Henry de Foxcote (Hampshire, 1292). On August 8th 1677, Elizabeth Foskett and Lawncelett Grey were married at St. Mary's, Marylebone Road, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Foxkote, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Buckinghamshire", 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.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 - 2024