This interesting name is one of those surname which derive from old English pre 7th Century personal names. Edgett derives from the old English personal name "Ecggeat", meaning "weapon-gate" (geat), or it may also be a topographical personal name for someone who lived by the pathway on the crest of a hill from the old English element "Ecg" crest of a sharply pointed hill or ridge, and "geat", a gate, path. The surname which appears to be peculiar to the Eastern counties of English first appears in records in the early 15th Century (see below). John Egeott, John Egiott and Richard Egett are all recorded in 1490, 1534 and 1541, respectively in the Petre Documents in the Essex Records Office. One Raynolde Egett married Annye Cowlgate on July 3rd, 1564 at Dartfold in Kent, while at St. Gregory by St. Paul in London Henry Egitt married Vrsula Jerman on August 21st 1574. John Edgett was christened at Great Burstead, in Essex on April 9th 1578. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Ejote, which was dated 1409, "Petre Documents in the Essex Records Office", during the reign of King Henry 1V, "Henry of Bolingbroke", (1399 - 1413), 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.