Frequency: (2275)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: probably from an Old English personal name of uncertain origin; perhaps a cognate of Bothe or akin to Butt. However, forms such as Walter le Botte (Oxfordshire 1279) seem to point to a nickname or occupational name, perhaps from Old French bot ‘butt’, ‘cask’, or bot ‘toad’. Compare Bottrell.
2. South German: occupational name for a messenger, from Middle High German bote ‘messenger’, ‘emissary’.
3. Danish: according to Søndergaard, from Dutch bot, both ‘flounder’ (the fish).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
