Family name origins & meanings
- French : nickname from haut ‘high’ (Latin altus plus initial h said to be due to the influence of Frankish hoh), usually denoting a haughty or proud person, and occasionally a tall man.
- North German : metonymic occupational name for a hat maker, from Middle Low German hōt ‘hat’.
- German (southern and central) and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : metonymic occupational name for a dealer in skins, from Middle High German hūt, hout, German Haut ‘skin’, ‘hide’.