Recorded in several spellings including Haylett, Haylock and Haylott, this is an English residential surname. It originates from the Olde English pre 7th century 'hai' meaning hay, and a 'loc', a fenced enclosure. The famous Victorian etymologist, the late Canon Charles Bardsley considered that the name was a variant of the English personal name 'Herlot' occasionally found before the Norman Invasion of 1066. This is possible, anything is possible with surnames, but the weight of evidence is against such a conclusion, at least for the majority of nameholders. The first recording is that of Helloc, a personal name only in 1188, at the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, the first surname being 150 years later. These early recordings include Emma Heyloc of Huntingdon in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, Wil;liam Heylock of Suffolk in 1327, and Nicholas Heylet, the rector of St Michael at Pleas, in the city of Norwich in 1612. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes 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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