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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Scottish (Borders) : habitational name from either of two places in Dumfriesshire called Moat, named from Middle English mote ‘moat’, ‘ditch’, originally referring to the whole system of fortifications (see Motte). In some cases it may have been a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a moated dwelling.

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