Name Changes
The modern spelling of most English surnames is comparatively recent and is usually a phonetic rendering of the name which is found in parish registers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It should be noted that the name itself, in its various orthographic forms, may have been borne by the same family for a previous three or four hundred years.
The use of the spelling "Clampett" or "Clampitt", etc on the web site is for general reference and is not intended to indicate that this spelling is the correct or preferable spelling, only that it is convenient !!
The variations in the surname (Clampitt, it, et, ett, utte, ytte, ot, etc) in "olden" times are almost certainly due to variations in the spelling abilities/inclinations of the person recording the name, research has come across Parish records showing the same person sporting four different spellings during his life.
The following list is incomplete, but will be added to as research continues - please send in any information you may have.
- Robert De Clampytte, a merchant, was admitted as a freeman of the
city of Exeter
on 13 Feb 1331. Robert De Clamputte (note the spelling has changed already!)
shows up the next year, 1332, in the lay subs for Exeter.
- Elizabeth Clampitt (1643-1662) was also known as Elizabeth Clampit
- Lawrence Clampitt (1662-1696) has two sons, John Clampitt (1723-1779) and William Clampit born 1728
