Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • French and English : topographic name for someone who lived by a fortified stronghold, Old French, Middle English motte. The surname may also be a habitational name from any of the places in France named with this word.
  • English : variant spelling of Mott 2.
  • German : habitational name from Motte in the Saarland or Motten in Bavaria.
  • The settlement that became the city of Detroit was founded in 1701 by Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac (1658–1730), governor of LA. He was born into the minor nobility in Gascony, France, where his father owned the seigneury of Cadillac.