Northcott

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English origin, borne by people with a shared ancestry and carried through many generations
2. An English surname that appears in records of various families across Britain and the countries they settled
3. A hereditary family name of English origin, used as a personal surname by people across several countries

Etymology: Northcott is a compound of two Old English words: "norþ", meaning "north", and "cot", meaning "cottage" or small dwelling. Put together, the name describes a cottage lying to the north of something, most often a larger settlement or estate. That is the whole of the story: the word was built from ordinary descriptive parts, the way many English place and family names were. The same compound produced several variant spellings that have travelled alongside it. "Northcote" and "Norcott" are doublets, meaning forms of the same word that developed separately and ended up as distinct spellings. Each one preserves the same two elements, "north" and "cot", worn down in slightly different ways over the centuries.