Odd first name

[Framesmiths1816]

Hi,

I am a little late joining in with this but I can add the following as I have Mynett as a family surname.

It is thought that most of the Mynett, Mynatt, Mynott, Minett, Minnot, Mynyot, Minet etc variations stem from Mignot. While there are Norman/French connections for the name, I also believe some are of later Huguenot French origins. The spellings do quite often seem to indicate an area/family group. Mynett seems to be Gloucestershire, Mynatt - Suffolk and you Mynott would look to be Essex.

Hope this is useful - FS

[bossy wifey]

You are right this Mynott comes from Essex. Because of the surname, Neville, I assumed there was a French connection centuries back. Odd that the name as a first name should have been given, in my case, to the eighth child of the family, especially where all the others had good Bibical names.

Nice to hear from you

[Framesmiths1816]

Are there indications of a naming convention in use? It might be possible to pick up where the name came from if they are. Have a look at
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/hardiehistory/namemeanings/namingsystems.htm#StandardEnglish
to see if anything stands out. My Mynetts were very found of using surnames as second names to the point where some children have more than one surname in the name for example Mary Stephens Chew Mynett. In this instance we know that Chew is the mothers maiden name but Stephens reference is still a mystery. To give you some idea these are the Christian names used in the same family group. Clifford, Leech, Lidiatt, Stephens, Chew and Adey. Only two of these names have been identified. I wonder if it is a Hugenot /French thing and they go back many more generations than usual.

Of course it could just be a family friends name.

ATB - FS

[janan]

Hi

If Mynott was originally a mother's surname it might be from way back. I had to trace back to a marriage in 1648 of James Allsopp to Susanna Wandell to find the origin of my ggg grandad Wandell Allsopp's name.

Jan

[bossy wifey]

Hi

I bet you were thrilled when you solved that puzzle. Lucky you, although I suspect luck had nothing to do with it.

Regards

Monica

[janan]

Thrilled to find the marriage but not so thrilled to find loads of Wandells - I'm still not sure which of two possibles my Wandell is

Good luck with your search
Jan

[Henham Essex]

Hi

You may be interested in www.henhamhistory.org there is a wealth of information including parish records and census returns for Henham Essex