This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English origin, and can be either a topographical or a nickname surname. If topographical, which is the more likely source for the majority of the modern surnames, the name denotes residence by or at a rounded hillock, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "tute", meaning "large, stout", used in a transferred sense to describe a mound or hillock, and found in Middle English as "toute". As a nickname the meaning would be "the rounded, stout, plump person". The surname first appears in the early 13th Century (see below), while other early recordings include: Simon and Richard Tute, in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk in 1275; William Tut, in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296; and Cissota Toute in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, in Yorkshire; while the Assize Court Rolls of Kent mention John de la Toute in 1316. Elias Tout married Mary Bronnam on July 15th 1663, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Tut, which was dated 1219, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.