Re: Totten/Totton and Tait/Tate Surname Origin?
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In reply to:
Re: Totten/Totton and Tait/Tate Surname Origin?
Brendan O'Donoghue 10/02/08
The name Totten is most likely from Toten, Norway.The Old Norse form of the name was Þótn. The meaning is unknown (maybe "the pleasant district").It is highly probable that some of the Germanic tribes (Toten) migrated to Norway and settled the area know as Toten.Later migrating to Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England.Google the words "Toten Norway" and browse the results.
Please look up the word in German.It means "dead", most likely for undertaker or executioner, which is certainly a nobler definition than "fool, idiot, or little foxes" - the etiology that English sources espouse.The attempts to link the name Totten to an English orgin is disambiguation (balderdash) based on limited information when the Doomsday book was written.
Also, check out Die Toten Hosen "The Dead Trousers (or Deadbeats)" a German Rock band.