Ryott is a diminutive form of "Ry" or "Rye". It was a locational name deriving from the Middle English "at the ye", becoming "At(on) - the island or low lying land" as seen with the town of Rye in Sussex. Thus, with the addition of "ott" which would be a variant of the agent suffix "et" from the French word "petit" for small or little, the name has come to describe the son of one from Ry, two variants of this name are Riot and Ryatt. Jane Ryott married one Christopher Brewett on 17th September 1561, at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London and on January 1st 1684, Sarah Riott married William Allison at St. James, Dukes Place, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rogerus de Ry, witness in Aberdeen, which was dated 1281 - Aberdeeen Epitaphs by J.A. Henderson, during the reign of King Edward I, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.