Recorded as Sproat, Sprot, Sprott, Spritt and possibly others, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname. It derives from the pre 7th Century personal name Sprot, itself probably from the Olde English word "sproet", meaning a young shoot, and subsequently used as a baptismal name of endearment, or possibly in medieval times, as a nickname for a small or slender person. The Scottish tradition is that the name was borne by Saxons who entered Scotland after the Norman Invasion of England in 1066, which is just possible. In England the surname is recorded in the famous Hundred Rolls of landowners, in this case in the county of Cambridge in 1272 when Henry Sprot was so recorded, whilst Richard Sprot appears in the Hundred Rolls of Oxford in the same year. In Scotland Adam Sprut, was a witness at the assize courts of the city of Glasgow in 1290, whilst Richard Sprot of Bryset in Roxburghshire, was a charter witness in 1307. In early surviving church registers we have the recording of Esaias Sprott, the daughter of Rogeri Sprott who was christened on February 7th 1563, at Glensford, in the county of Suffolk, whilst at St. Andrew's Holborn, in the city of London, Mary, the daughter of John and Mary Sproat, was christened on July 4th 1747. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh Sprot of Hur, in Scotland. This was dated 1262, in the registers known as the "Liber Cartarum Sancte Crucis", during the reign of King Alexander 111rd of Scotland, 1249 - 1286. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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