SCOTT. SCOT. This ranks among the most prevalent of British surnames, almost sixty coats of arms being assigned to it, while the London Directory shows about 200 traders in the metropolis so denominated. In records of early date, it is usually written Le Scot, implying a native of Scotland. Now, as the tendency of North Britons to ' come south ' is proverbial, we do not wonder at the commonness of the name in England ; but why many families who never lived out of Scotland should be called Scott, is not so readily explained. The Duke of Buccleuch, the head of the surname in that country, traces his pedigree to Richard le Scot, of Murdieston, co. Lanark, one of the Scottish barons, who swore fealty to our Edward I., 1296. The name exists in records of earlier date, but the claim set up by some zealous genealogists for a Norman extraction has no foundation. M. de Gerville remarks : — " It is somewhat curious tliat this Duke of Buccleuch seclvs for his name in Normaud), and pretends that the original appellation was VEscott!" Mem. Soc. Ant. Normandie, 1S25.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.