I am a bit confused about the name Bluett. I met a Bluett once, but he said his family had mis-spelt his name on his Birt certificate but his parents were actually Blewitts...Are the Blewitts and the Bluetts related? Did the name change ? Are the Blewetts also connected ? E.g. Australian cricketer, Greg Blewett ? Please let me know ? Do get in touch even if you don't have the answers to my queries ?

-- Allan Frank Don Blewitt (allanblewitt@yahoo.com), October 21, 2002

Answers

I hope that this will answer some of your questions.

The Name, It's Origin and Derivations

I do not want you to think that I am an expert on the family or the family name. However, I would like to share what I have found in my research. Let me start by saying that when I took a course in genealogy the professor was asked, “Why are there so many variations in the way people spell their name?” His answer is one that I think will answers some of our questions on the spelling of our name. His answer was “remember that in those days they did not have good writing instruments, paper, ink etc. as we do today. Remember that all hand-writing is not the same! Some people when writing do not close their ‘o’ and if the next letter is an ‘u’ then we could wind up with an ‘ew’ so you can see from this example that the professor gave how our name has so many different spelling”.

If for instance our original spelling was Blouet, which is French, and using the example above one can see how the name became Blewett. So much for writing lessons, on with the origin of our name.

Perhaps you may have the idea as I did before I started this research, that our name was rather unusual, and, while I still feel it is indeed a rare name, I must admit I had no idea there were so many people in the United States, as well as in foreign nations, that have our name or some derivative, as I believe that so far I have at least a thousand families in the United States, and of course, there are a great many others in Canada, while England seems to have as many as the United States, and I find them scattered all over the world, South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Japan, and doubtless a great many other nations that so far I haven't been able to contact.

Without a doubt our name is of French origin, and while there is nothing to officially confirm my position, I am thoroughly convinced that we originated in Normandy, France, that we came across with William the Conqueror about 1022, the French name Bloet (Blouet), and this seems to be confirmed by a report made by the Society of Genealogists, Research Department, under date of December 19, 1950, in which they reported as follows:

"Text Books on origins of names; Harrison's Surnames of the United Kingdom BLEWETT) the French Bluet: v under Blew, and BLEWITT) the Fr. dim suff -et (CP, Fr. bleuet or bluet, a bluebottle, blue bird)"

which interprets: Volume under Blew and plus the French diminutive suffix et, and other fictions seems to confirm the report that the French meaning was also a blue flower or perhaps a corn flower, while others you will note in this volume seems to place the meaning on a color of cloth worn at that time. "BLEW) (A.-Fr.-Teut.) of Livid complexion Blue) (M.E. blew, bleu, Fr. bleu O. H. Ger. blao, blue livid: cp O. E. blaw)" The above interprets the word Blew in French as well as Teutonic, means of livid complexion, while the middle England Blew, Bleu, and French Bleu as well as the old Hanover German means blue or lived and the old English spelling Blaw.

The original name, Bloet (Blouet), was doubtless through some quirk of imagination or poor penmanship became Bluet; thus, I am led to believe that the original English name was Bluet, and later became Blewett, for at this time I have never heard of anyone pronouncing the name other than Blu-it, and not Blew-ett, but this, of course, is merely my supposition, and you are at liberty to arrive at your own conclusion.

The same coat of arms was given to all families, Blewett, Blewet, Blewitt, Bluet, or Bluett, as shown by the Society of Genealogist' report.

In contacting the Scots Ancestry Research Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, they informed me that the sir name "Blewett" was not considered Scottish, although it was doubtless derived from their sir name "Blawet" or "Blowet", which doubtless originated from "Blae Weth" near Cosfforth, Cumberland, England, and this sir name "Blawet" appears on the Scottish records at the beginning of the 15th century; so in view of this information it would seem that the family did not originate in Scotland.

-- Michael K. Blewett (mkblewet@bellsouthnet.com), November 09, 2002.

Please note email address change.

-- Michael K. Blewett (mkblewet@bellsouth.net), November 11, 2002.