This rather unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "fot" meaning "foot", and was originally given as a descriptive nickname to someone who travelled on foot, perhaps a soldier or messenger. Alternatively, the name may have been topographical for "a dweller by a race course". The derivation, in this case, is from the Olde English "feoht" meaning "race" or "contest". The name of the sport was, for example, transferred to Follifoot in Yorkshire (the first element being "foli", a foal). One Ernui Fot, under-tenant in the Domesday Book for Cheshire dated 1066, may have derived his name from either of these sources. The form Footitt, with variant spellings Footitte, Footet and Footit, is particularly well recorded in Church Registers of Nottinghamshire and London from the late 16th Century (see below), the diminutive suffix "itt" or "ett" means "little" or "son of Fo(o)t". Recordings from English Church Registers include: the christening of John Footitt, and infant, on August 9th 1629, at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, and the marriage of Christopher Footitt and Elizabeth Tony on April 26th 1666, at North Clifton, Nottinghamshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Elizabeth Footitte, which was dated May 27th 1584, marriage to Hugh Collington, at Headon, Nottinghamshire, during the reign of Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.

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