- Means “Believes in God”
- Derived from the names Elijah and Elias
- Very popular as both a first name and a last name
- The surname 19th-century author Mary Ann Evans chose as her pen name: George Eliot
- Also famous for T. S. Eliot, the 1948 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Variation of Elliot, Elliott, Elyot, Elliotte, Ellyotte
History of the name Eliot
Among all Old Testament first names, the one that gained almost the greatest popularity in medieval times was Elijah or Elias, popular in France under the form Elie. From Elie, we derive the usual English surnames Ellis and Elliot, Elliott or Eliot.
The Elliot family is descended from Sir William de Aliot, who came to England with the Conqueror. His arms were azure, a canton or; crest, an arm and sword; motto, “Par Saxa, per ignes, fortiter et recte.”
His descendants settled at the village of Elliot in Forfarshire, and some generations later, in the seventeenth century, were seated on the border, in Liddisdale.
Although those bearing one or another form of this name in America today are usually rather particular as to the way in which they spell their name — Eliot, Elliot or Elliott — the particular spelling seems to indicate little or nothing concerning the origin of the family.
