= Bell2,3 (q.v.) + the French diminutive suff. -et.

William Belet held Frome—since Frome-Belet, of the King in 1086: (Domesday) and William Belet, perhaps his grandson, is entered in the Liber Niger as a baron in Dorset in 1165. “Michael Bellet was grand justiciary to Henry II. (Hov. i. 515). Robert Bellet was of Dorset in the thirteenth century. The name continually occurs in the Norman Exchequer Rolls of 1180-98.”—The Norman People. “The Belets were a family of great honour and worth. Hervey Belet lived in the reign of King Henry I., and was father to Michael Belet, cup-bearer to King Henry II., who served under the Earl Warren at the coronation of Alianore, wife to that King (he served that day for Hugh, Earl of Arundel) and married Emma, daughter and heir of John de Cheney, by whom he had Michael and Henry Belet, and other children. This Michael (as I take it) was a judge 32 Hen. II., and High Sheriff of Leicestershire for several years in the same reign. In 7 King John, he had a grant to himself and his heirs to be the King’s Butler.”—Blomfield's Norfolk. Another Michael Belet, early in the reign of Henry III. (about 1230), founded Wroxton Priory in Oxfordshire: it was dedicated to the Virgin, and consisted of a superior and six canons of the order of St. Augustine. “King John’s patent to Michael Belet clears up the pedigree of this family, wherein he gives to Master Michael Beleth, son of Michael Beleth, and his heirs, the office of being his butler or cup-bearer (officium de pinc’ nora n’ra) with all the rights belonging to it, to be held of the King and his heirs, freely, quietly, wholly, and honourably, as Michael, father of the aforesaid Master Michael held it; and that King further grants and confirms to the said Master Michael and his heirs all the lands which his grandfather Hervey Belet held.”—Ibid. The Belets bore Argent on a chief Gules two crescents Or.

I can find no further mention of them in Norfolk; but one of the name— probably belonging to the Dorsetshire house—occurs in Cornwall during the reign of Edward VI., when “Reginald de Mohun gave this barton of Bochym to one of his daughters married to Bellot. Since they came to Bochym,” con­tinues Hals, “the Bellots have intermarried with Monk, Pendarves, and the inheritrix of Spour of Trebatha; but their estate is all spent by riot and excess, and, as I take it, the name extinct in those parts.” In 1703 Bochym belonged to the husband of the heiress of Trebatha, Renatus Bellot, who represented the borough of Michell in parliament, and died of a fever in 1709, leaving an only son of the same name, that soon after followed him to the grave. Their coat, Argent on a chief Gules three cinquefoils of the field, was very similar to that of the Norfolk family.

A scion of the latter, John Bellet, “descended heir-male from William Bellot of Gayton,” settled in Cheshire in the time of Henry VI., having married the heiress of the Moretons of Great Moreton. Their grandson James, unus valectus camere nostre, was appointed by his Earl Bailiff of the Hundred of Edisbury 3 Ed. IV. They were several times Sheriffs of the county. Of this family was Hugh Bellot, Bishop of Chester, who died in 1596, the year after his translation from Bangor: and Sir John Bellot, created a baronet in 1663. This baronetcy expired in 1713.”—Ormerod’s Cheshire.

William Belet, steward of William the Conqueror, was a tenant-in-chief in cos. Hants and Dorset. Domesd. As the name is not prefixed by De, it is doubtless a descriptive sobriquet, perhaps signifying a "handsome little fellow." His descendants were barons by tenure till temp. Hen. III. Nicolas' Synopsis.

Belet continually occurs as a surname in Normandy, 1180-98 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). William Belet held lands in capite Hants and Dorset, 1080 (Domesd.). William B. was a baron in Dorset, 1165 (Liber Niger). Michael B. was grand justiciary to Henry II. (Hov. i. 515). Robert B. (13th cent.) was of Dorset. The Bellets were hereditary butlers to the king.

A Norman name: From the Domesday Book, Will. Belet (Hants). Harvey Belet lived temp. K. Steph.