My surname origin
I have extensive research on my surname (Lambillotte), common in Wallonia, Belgium/ exists in the US in two forms (Lambillotte and Lambiotte), the later likely a phonetic spelling at the time of entry to the US.
Has anyone a lead on the origins of my surname? It would seem to be a dimutive of something/ place?
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Lambillotte is one of the many Belgian surnames derived from Lambert whose origin you'll find at http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Lambert-name-meaning.ashx
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Thank you for the response. A professor of linguistics at Ohio State University reached the same conclusion 30 years ago; but failed to state the basis for his conclusion. Lambillotte is a fairly common name in parts of Belgium and the name can be found in some church documents back to the 11th century. The "Lam" part fits the germanic 'land' or 'territory', but what is the meaning of 'illotte' or 'billotte'? The 'otte' can be used as to connote a diminutive or female (As in Charlotte vs Charles).
Not saying it is not a derivation of 'Lambert', but have nothing to support that.
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You'll find all the Belgian derivatives of Lambert in Germain & Herbillon's "Dictionnaire des noms de famille en Wallonie et à Bruxelles". The structure of Lambillotte is Lamb- followed by the double suffix -illotte, which has many parallel forms like Lamb+illon, Lamb+illot, Lamb+elin, Lamb+inet, etc.
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