Recorded in many forms including Haithwaite, Haithwat, Haiththrott, Hathwaite, and Huthwit, this is an English locational surname. In so far as we have any definate evidence as to the origin we know that it is locational. As such we believe that it is from either the village of Husthwaite near Easingwold, a small town in North Yorkshire, or from Hustwaite, a village in Nottinghamshire. The former place was recorded in the Yorkshire pipe rolls of 1167 as 'Hustwait' meaning the clearing (thwaite) with a house on it (hus), whilst the Nottinghamshire village is first recorded in 1208 as Hothwait, meaning the clearing on a spur of land (hoh). This was perhaps a dry area on marshland, or a spur of land which perhaps projected into a valley. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes for whatever reason, and who moved somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such 'strangers' was to call them by the name of their former home. Spelling being at best indifferent, and local dialects very thick, soon lead to the development of 'sounds like' surnames. In this case the name is quite well recorded in surviving church registers of the city of London. Examples include Richard Huthwitt at St Mary Abchurch, on September 25th 1597, and Mary Haithwaite, who was christened at St Mary Mountlaw, on September 3rd 1619.

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