This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Bennet,' i.e. Benedict, which see. Bennet was the usual English form. While Furness Abbey was administrated under the Benedictine Order, Bennet was one of the commonest of baptismal names in the surrounding district (v. Benn). West, in his History of Furness (pp. 188, 60, 29), records, amongst the benefactors of the Abbey and Conishead Priory, 'Benet, son of Alan,' 'Benet Penington' (1290) 'Benet de Rotington' (1256), and 'Benet, son of William' (1256). These were all living in the immediate neighbourhood of the Abbey. Indeed, it will be found that Bennet and Benson are still common surnames in districts where the Benedictines have had foundations.

Benedict, or Benett de Hankeston, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.Stolen from Fore-bears

Beneyt Mercator, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Nicholas Beneit, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Reginald fil. Beneyt, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

Robert He-net, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Joanna Benet, doghter, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1581. Baptised — Thomas, s. Bennett Calwaye: St. Columb Major (Cornwall).

The feminine Benedicta was also familiarly Bennet.

1561. Baptised — Bennet, d. Robert Garret: St. Thomas the Apostle (London).

1575. — Bennet, d. James Blower: ibid.

1577-8. William Stitche and Bennett Bennett, widow: Marriage Lic. (London).

1578. Baptised — John, s. Thomas Bennett: St. James, Clerkenwell.

BENNET, Bennett: Diminutive of Benedict. The fame of S. Benedict (480—543) the patriarch of the Western monks made the name popular. William, Robert, and Hugh Benedictus occur in Normandy c. 1180—95. Benedictus, son of Walter de Sancto Edmundo, witnessed a charter of sale of land in Perth, 1219 (Scon, p. 52). Benedict the dean (decanus) witnessed the gift of the mill of Wystoun to the Hospital of Soltre in 1249 (Soltre, p. 30), John Benet, Scotsman, late an enemy, became liegeman of Henry IV of England, 1402 (.Bain, IV, 624), and Richard Bennat, chaplain, is mentioned in 1459 (BAA., II, 126). Part of the lands of Williamstoun in the barony of Cardowie was leased to John Bennett, 1563 (LIM., 89), Robert Bennet was one of the first bailies of Cuirass, 1588 Andrew Bennot witnessed an instrument of resignation in 1527 (Panmure, II, 306), and the name was very common in Edinburgh in the seventeenth century. A family of this name in Chesters, were ranked among the 'landit men' of Roxburgh in the early part of the sixteenth century, and the Bennets of Grubbet were at that period an old family in the same county. The form Bennet is more common in Scotland, -ett being the prevailing form south of the Border. Benarte 1651, Bennatt 1574.

From the personal name Benedict. In the reigns of Edwards II. and III. the name is found thus modified: Fitz Benedict, Benediscite, Bendiste, Bendish, Bennett. This was in the city of Norwich. N. and Q. v. 291. The derivation from benet, a minor order of priests, is improbable.

A contraction of Benedict, from Benedictus, blessed.

A contraction or rather a corruption of Benedict, from Benedictus, blessed.

Bennett. —Differently derived from the early personal name of Benedict and from "benet," a minor order of priests. In the Hundred Rolls for Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire, in the reign of Edward I, it occurs frequently in the form of Beneyt. At present it is rare or absent north of Lincolnshire and Lancashire, but is well dispersed over the rest of England, being best represented in Cornwall, Derbyshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Notts, etc. It is singular that Bennetts is for the most part confined to Cornwall, the combination of the two varieties of the name placing this county at the head of the list.