This unusual name has Germanic origins where originally it was a pet-form of 'Arnold' - the Saxon personal compound of the pre 7th Century which translates as 'Eagle-Rule'. The name is first recorded in Prussia, the Coat of Arms being one of the most unusual recorded, being blue, a red fesse chequay gold and red charged with a black wing couped, charged with a silver trefoil slipped, overall a semee of green trefoils. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johannes Nolte. which was dated C.1680, Berlin (Prussia). during the reign of Emperor Leopold 1 1668 - 1705. 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.