Eliot, Eliott, Elliot, and Elliott s of the World UNITE!
I got the following cool email today:
I just stumbled on to your blog via someone’s installation of your hashcash plugin. I was wondering what in the world hash cash was and then got distracted by your blog (that I had to read via Google’s cache because your site seems to be unreachable this morning). I just had to email someone who has (almost) the same name as me. And, we also share a similar goal! One of my goals in life is to be known as just “Eliot” without the use of my last name. I love how infrequently I meet other Eliot’s (or Elliot’s or Elliott’s) and I’ve even rarely met someone who knew another Eliot (or Elliot or Elliott). I want to take advantage of that and become like Madonna or Prince or Beck. A one-name wonder, you might say.
Yes, being named Elliott is indeed pretty cool. We’re not named for ET–think T.S. Eliot. And, even cooler, is that any of us can be effectively named E(l+)iot(+) without difficulty. Elllliotttttttttts of the world, unite!
For those of you who don’t know the origin or history of the name Eliot, try this list of people by surname El from wikipedia, or read about how Eliot derives from Hebrew Elijah, meaning “The Lord is my God.”
And, contrary to popular opinion, it’s a statistically significant American name:
Elliot is a common male first name, ranking 582 out of 1219 for males of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. Elliot is a very popular surname, ranking 1841 out of 88799 for people of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.
Update: Did you know that Elyot is another variant of this name? It’s a rare spelling from the 16th century!
This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 2:41 pm and is tagged with contrary to popular opinion, world hash, hash cash, u s census, google, hashcash, iot, goals in life, eliott, wikipedia, t s eliot, 16th century, elijah, madonna, beck, hebrew, spelling, surname, prince, god. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
on April 3rd, 2006 at 10:43 pm
I… I don’t know if I’ve ever met an Eliot. Tho I do like the name, surely. Hm. (meh, “Ezekiel is a rather uncommon male first name, ranking 1075 out of 1219 for males of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.”)
on May 27th, 2006 at 3:59 am
Hi, i am procrastinating from uni work and thought i’d look up the origin of my name (as you do!). i ended up here, and i wanted to say sometimes i see people where i live (melbourne, australia) whose last name is Elliot (or other derivatives) but i rarely (if ever) see, meet or even hear of anyone whose first name is Elliot. The only time this happened to me has been very freaky, as my ex girlfriend went to to find another man, whose name was also Elliot! SO RANDOM!! i wonder what the odds are of her going out with 2 elliots in her life!
i also find it very weird when i meet other elliots (eg. meeting this guy), it was in a way like meeting myself?? i dont know if other people get that when they are named john or james but i do and its weird!
btw, i too suffered the ET thing in school, complete with finger movements and sound as well!
on May 27th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
Hi! I just wanted to say that Elliott’s first name is not Elliott. It is Efraym. His full name is Efraym Elliott Yamin. Elliott is his middle name. Sorry, I just wanted to get things straight.
on August 21st, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Hey, Elliott (and variations) are fairly common where I come from. Here in Illinois, I’ve heard of alot, ones that relatives and otherwise. Our phone book is FILLED with ‘em. I used to ask my mom if we were related to all those people, and why I didn’t get a birthday present from each of them.
I’ve never really liked my last name, but now that I know the origin, I believe I appreciate it much more.
Does anyone know the origin of ‘Smoldt’? Perhaps my future last name. (Yea, just when I start to appreciate mine)….
(I’ll have to name my little boy eliot, elliot, eliott, or elliott to keep it going)
-Cala Janette Elliott (first name should be spelled
‘K A Y LA’… ) My parents decided to be extra mean…
gooday
on August 31st, 2006 at 10:10 am
It’s been pretty cool living with the name (2 Ls and 2 Ts Please!!!)..As an Elliott I have only met 2 others in my life time…It’s wierd when I have to call someone else by my name….I also have heard enough of “E.T. Phone Home”…In my early years kids made fun of my name…Smelliott or Belliott..As I grew older It became cool to have such a respectable name…and NO there’s no way of shortening this cool name…It’s ELLIOTT and thats that!!!!
Thanks Elliott
on September 13th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Hi all ..
I have been researching the Elliott surname for just under 3yrs now as it was my grandmothers maiden name. I am almost positive that the surname comes from here in the UK (possibly Scotland) and back centuries ago the decendants emigrated to Canada and Australia for cheap land. The earliest mention of the Elliott surname is around 1257 i believe .. if anyone can tell me any different then id love to look into it !!!
Lisa
on December 12th, 2006 at 6:52 am
hi elliotts!
Lisa; Im an Elliott in the UK! Yep, I believe the double L double T is Scottish too, and is linked with ‘Ruler of the Elves’.. how nifty!
on January 16th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
all you eliott/elliots etc etc etc should look on elliotclan.com website. You are not one of the lost tribes of Israel but a fierce tribe from the Scottish Borders!
on January 22nd, 2007 at 4:26 am
We just had a baby and named him Elliot. My wife says i looked like Elliot from E.T. when i was a boy!
I’m glad to see that after inital the E.T. teasing thing is over he will get some respect! but somehow i don’t even think kids in 10 years time would have even heard of E.T.
We really like the name and it is quite uncommon here in New Zealand.
Maybe in years to come our little boy will google his name and find all you Elliot’s again!
on February 15th, 2007 at 10:15 am
The Elliott clan is from Scotland, near the border region down near England. We were a fierce clan in fighting the English.
on April 25th, 2007 at 2:56 am
Hi - found this website by accident really - but hey, I’m an Elliott! Here in Nottingham England Im constantly asked if I was named after the boy in E.T. Trouble is Im a good 3 years older than the film itself!
on June 19th, 2007 at 10:46 am
We named our daughter Elliott (husband/s middle name) i like the fact it is a not so common name..for boy or especially girl! We sometimes call her elle or ellie, but i love everyone remembers the female elliott!
on July 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
I was named after my grandma’s maiden name. But I have had the fair share of E.T. experiences as well. Also not to mention Smelliott and Idiot Perry. Maybe it’s because not much rhymes with Elliott and people can’t come up with anything original. I’m glad being an Elliott…especially when it’s spelled right with 2 L’s and 2 T’s.
on July 10th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
We named our son Elliot, which means “Faithful to God”. Years after he was born, I remembered that at Wheaton College I lived in a dorm called Elliot Hall, named after Jim Elliot, the missionary.
Being 9 years old, my son never gets teased about E.T. since kids his age have not seen it. He doesn’t mind being called Smelliot by his cousins, though I can’t stand it. The other day he came up with the saying “Elliot is Brelliant”.
on July 17th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
watz up wat are you doing right now I want to get to know you I am your # one fan so can you please write me back okay please.
on October 3rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
We named our baby girl Elliott. I love the name for either a guy or a girl, it’s just a great name.
on October 5th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Just found out I am having a girl! She is being named Elliott, which is my maiden name. Husband is fine with it, his friends and family not so fine with it, but oh well! I loved my last name growing up and think it is a great girls name! We are going to call her Elli for short.
on October 28th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Congratulations on your baby girl! I admit I’ve gotten a few weird looks from people, but I’m glad I named my baby girl Elliott. And the people who don’t like it (like my mom for example) can just call her Ellie.
on November 21st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
En garde! I’ll let you try my Wu-Tang style!
on December 11th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Melinda,
Congrats on the girl….they are alot of fun =) And like whay Nancy said, people gave us some weird looks when I tell them her name, (mostly older people) but other people think her name is posh! We sometimes call our Elliott, Elle….like Legally Blonde =) Plus, everyone remembers the female Elliott, even her doctor who sees a million babies! I think the name makes her stand out in a crowd!
on December 11th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
spelling…..
it just seems like alot of people spell our daughter’s name wrong…it is Elliott…Not Eliot, Elliot,or Eliott.
Any suggestions on how to politley correct them?
on December 11th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
This happens to me all the time. ALL THE TIME. I’ve seen my first and last name mangled in god knows how many ways. Eliot Black, Elliottt, etc, etc…
Smile, I guess!
on January 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m a 2 L, 1 T Elliot
I frequently get my name speeled wrong though….Elliott, Eliott, Eliot…I once even had Elliotte!
Come On The Elliots/Elliotts/Eliots/Eliotts!!!
on January 11th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Ya, our baby girl is 2L, 2T and people always spell it with 2L, 1T. I’m wondering if the 2L, 1T is the more common spelling? I have a feeling she’ll just have to spell her name for people the rest of her life. My husband, Colin, said he always had to tell people “just one L” all the time and it didn’t bother him too much. It just comes with the name, I guess.
on January 16th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Misspelling ELLIOTT is easily corrected, and if you do it the way I always have, they WILL remember it. When I notice it, I politely restate my name and follow it with the words “DOUBLE L, DOUBLE T”, or spell it out for them in the following manner: E double L I O double T. Either one of these corrections seem to help people remember it correctly the next time.
on February 9th, 2008 at 1:50 am
People are always misspelling my surname.
Amanda, a good way of politely correcting people on your daughter’s name is by telling them “Double the Love, Double the Trouble”
The Elliot family (original Scottish spelling) were one of the most notorious of the Border Reivers (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Reivers), along with the Armstrongs and the Grahams.
When James VI of Scotland, Later James I of England, came to power, he decided to tighten his grip on the godforsaken Borders, he exiled many to Ulster (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster), the Elliots amongst them.
For reasons unknown, some added an extra ‘t’ to their name.
My family were amongst those exiled to Ulster and chaned their names.
Aparently old habits die hard, because my family were sent to Australia as convicts for sheep rustling etc.
Fortiter et Recte!
Kai Elliott
on April 10th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Does anybody else out there spell the first name like this? … ELIOTT.
Our little boy was born on Boxing Day a few years ago. We named him Eliott because we just loved the name. Well I did, his father took a bit longer to appreciate it, but when the shortlist came down to three names which we really liked, his Dad had the final call. While expecting I had read somewhere that the name Elliott meant ‘Close to God’. Well you can’t get much closer than right next to Christ’s birthday, can you?!!
When naming him I favoured the 2L’s 1T variety, but my hubby preferred the (2L’s, 2T’s) version, or the “Double the Love, double the Trouble” variety, as one listing put it, (9 Feb 2008). I thought that was very clever by the way, Kai. …So anyway we decided to compromise and we came up with our own version, - 1L, 2T’s. Also when spelt with just 1L it can be shortened to Eli (with the strength emphasis on the E) … sounds like Elij, short for Elijah, which is another variation of the name of Elliott.
But now I’m delighted to find out through this website that this ‘Eliott’ - our spelling, really does exist and is a legitimate way of spelling the name! So I’m glad because now hopefully it won’t look as though we were trying to set ourselves so far apart from the pack by spelling it oddly in order to be ‘unique’ and ‘different’, as that was not what we were trying to achieve. Anyhow, I think the name itself speaks uniquely for itself. It’s a name of purpose and intention, don’t you think! And if my son ever complains about others spelling it incorrectly, we’ll be quick to tell him, “just be greatful and happy that they remembered your name in the first place”, and that, that in itself it a compliment. …So tell ‘em to spell it however they like! It’s the great name that is of importance, not the spelling.
By the way, it is just my opinion, (and just one opinion it is, remember) but I really think the name El(+)iot(+) is better suited to a boy than a girl. I think that the ‘ot’ sound at the names’ end makes it sound quite strong, crisp and distinct, and therefore perhaps too masculine sounding to be a girl’s name. Personally, I think little girls deserve something more pretty and feminine to wear. Anyhow, each to his (or her) own I guess. What do other people think about the ‘ot’ sound at the end? Does it sound more masculine or more feminine to you?
on May 17th, 2008 at 10:28 am
We decided when we got pregnant to name our second child Eliot, be it a boy or girl. Our first son is Oliver, and I liked the simpler 1 L 1 T version of the spelling. I also think it is more feminine that way, since we ARE having a girl, which I think is great. I saw someone mention the missionary Jim Elliot, and his wife, Elisabeth is a hero of mine. I think a female Eliot will be just beautiful.
on May 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 am
I’m so glad you like the name Eliot for a girl!
I love the 1L 1T spelling, too. I didn’t know that was an option until a few months after my daughter was born (my daughter is 2L 2T.)
Had I known, I probably would have gone with the 1L 1T spelling myself. It seems to me like the more unusual Eliot spelling might be easier to associate with a girl.
Congratulations on your baby girl!
on June 6th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
The surname “Elliott” is what’s called a turncoat derivative of the surname “Elliot.” Elliots loyal to the British crown added the extra “T.”
on June 8th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Through thorough investigations, by my son Kyle Elliot, relating to the last name Elliott, it was found that our ancestors just added an extra T. It is a shame, but thy had their reasons of course. I will therefore in the near future, have my name corrected to it’s proper spelling Elliot. GodBless Scotland, GodBless the “Reiver’s”.
on June 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I believe many “Elliotts” are in the same situation we were. We were fortunate to be able to trace to a confirmed “Elliot” spelling. In the 1850s, in our Elliot line, the extra “T” was added (not legally), I’m sure, to conform to the culture of New Brunswick as a “Loyalist” province. I’ve met a few “Elliotts” who have recognized their added “T.” One, in particular, prefers the added “T.” I prefer the original Scottish riding clan spelling of “Elliot” for, it’s a way I can honor my forefathers and pass on the correct spelling of our Elliot line’s surname. Cheers.
on June 26th, 2008 at 4:40 am
i haTE This nAme. its so ***, LIKe you guys who LOVESsss men
on July 4th, 2008 at 3:18 am
The dog in I AM LEG-END does not die.