This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English, and later Scottish, origin, and derives from a personal name recorded in the Gloucestershire Assize Rolls of 1221 variously as "Wallauiet", "Walhauiet" and "Welleuiet". The personal name is a diminutive form, created by the suffix "-et", of the Anglo-Scandinavian "Waltheof", Old Norse "Valthiofr", which is composed of the elements "val", meaning battle, and "thiofr", thief, meaning "one who snatched victory out of battle". The personal name is first recorded in Scotland circa 1250 as "Wallet", and the surname was first recorded in Scotland with one Andrew Wallet in the Dumfrieshire County Records of 1642. The modern surname can be found as Wallett, Waylet and Waylett. The marriage of Elizabeth Waylett and Thomas Marshe was recorded at St. Andrew's, Enfield, London, on January 26th 1561. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Waleth, which was dated 1296, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Sussex", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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