This rare and unusual surname has an equally unusual background. It derives from the pre 12th Century personal female name "Emma", of which the byname form is Emmot or Emoten. It would seem that the development of Middle English speech forms, from the post 1066 Norman-French Conquest, lead to a dialectal transposition. This development was first to Emnett or Emneth, and then to Inment, Innett, Inett, Inott, and even Ynett in the 17th Century. Examples of the name recordings include John Innott, a witness at St. John's Church, Hackney, on September 14th 1624, this church being the epicentre of the name in a variety of spellings. A later recording is that of George Innett, the son of John and Grace Innett, who was christened at St. Andrew's Church, Holborn, on April 25th 1746, whilst on August 24th 1719, Maria, the daughter of Thome Inett, was born at Wirksworth, Derbyshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Emote, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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