This picturesque and unusual name of medieval English origin is a diminutive (little", or "son of") of Mabb, itself a derivative of Amabel or Amabella, from the Latin Amablis, meaning 'the lovable one'. In this case the surname means the 'son of Mabb' or 'Little Mabb' (petit Mabb from the Norman French). The name is first recorded as a personal name as in Mabota Ryder - 1379. The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls, the surname development being Mabot (1509 Oxford) Mabbett (1646 Somerset). Amongst the sample recordings in St. Margaret's, Westminster, London are, the christening of Gilbert Mabbott, the infant son of Gilbert and Martha Mabbott, on February 1648, and the marriage between John Mabbot, and Mary Lure on September 22nd 1653. One William Fenn Moppett, the infant son of William Fenn Moppett and Jane Moppett was christened in FEbruary 1813 at St. John, Horseley downs, Bermondsey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Mabot, which was dated 1509, the Oxford County Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Henry V11, 'Henry Tudor' 1485 - 1510. 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.

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