Of Norman origin from NF. Mont Hault, Latinized Monte Alto, 'of the high mount.' The Monte Altos first settled in Wales, where Mold is a much reduced form of their territorial name. The first of the family in Scotland was Robert de Montealto who appears in the reign of David I, and is understood to have come from Wales. The family early rose to power and position in their new home, and in the reign of William the Lion they had acquired lands in Angus, including the lordship of Fern or Feme (Cholmers I, p. 531; Cupar-Angus, I, p. xvii). Robert de Muhaut and Michaele de Muhaut were witnesses to a charter by William Cumin, earl of Buchan, of half a mark of silver of the ferm of Inuermer, c. 1210-33 (RPSA.; p. 231). William de Monte Alto witnessed a perambulation of the marches of the Abbey of Arnbroath and those of Kynblathmund in 1219 (RAA., I, p. 163). Alexander de Mohaut, Mouhat, Mouhaut, Muhaut, or Muhauth, as his name was variously spelled, "clericus episcopi Brechinensis," appears frequently in the chartularies of Arbroath and Brechin as a charter witness between 1198-1218. Michael de Monte Alto, as sheriff of Inverness in 1234, witnessed a composition between the bishop of Moray and Walter Cumyn, earl of Mynynteth, concerning the lands of Kynkardyn (REM., . 99), and in 1242 he witnessed a charter y Alexander II to Gylandris MacLod (RER., I, 4), and in 1248 he witnessed a composition between Freskyn de Moravia, lord of Duffus, and Simon, bishop of Moray, "super usuario nemoris et mores de Spyny et de Fynrossy" (REM., p. 114). William de Monte Alto was sheriff of Crumbathyn (Cromarty) in 1263, and in 1275 attested an agreement between Archibald, bishop of Caithness and William, earl of Sutherland (Bann. Misc., III, p. 24). Bernard de Monte Alto, miles, along with the abbof of Balmurinach (Balmerino) and several knights and nobles accompanied Princess Margeret to Norway, and on his return he with the abbot and many others were drowned in the wreck of their ship (Fordun, Annals, lxiv). In 1289 William de Muhaut was one of the signer, of the letter to Edwerd I of England regarding the projected marriage of his eldest son with the Princess Mergeret. In 1296 he rendered homage to the king of England (Bain, II, p. 169,179, 195), and in 1305 he is referred to as "heritable sheriff" of Crombathyn (ibid., p. 458). Bernard de Mohaut of Peeblesshire, for bearing arms against the king of England at Methven (Meffen), "and feloniously slaying some of the king's liegemen there and taken on the field, and slaying Roger de Tany the king's vallet, in Selkirk forest, and burning and destroying churches in Scotland, was sentenced to be drawn and hanged" (ibid., p. 480). William de Montealto, one of the signers of the Scottish Declaration of Independence in 1320, was killed at the siege of Norham Gustle in 1327 (Fordun, Annals, cxli). Mowats were settled in Ayrshire as early as c. 1400 and in the seventeenth century we find them in Edinbergh shire. The name still exists in the three forms, and in Caithness and the Orkneys it is still not uncommon. In these last places it is pronounced 'Mode,' and to this local pronunciation is due the spelling Maath (Anders Maath of Houkeland, Shetland, 1597-Goudie, p. 117). John Mowet was prebendary of the church of Guthrie in 1410 (Jervise LL., p. 371), but the name is now almost unknown in Angus, their first home in Scotland, but is still preserved in Mowat's Seat or Mowat's Cairn on Bruff Shank Hill (ibid., p. 278). Axel Mowat (1593-1661), one of the richest men in Norway and an admiral in the Norwegian-Danish fleet was descended from the Mowats of Balquhally, Aberdeenshire, Meuatt 1578, Mohuat c. 1218, Mout 1624, Movat 1525, Mowait 1494, Mowaite 1545, Mowit 1686, Mwat 1521.

A Scottish corruption of the old baronial Moutalt, or De Monte Alto.

Originally De Monte Alto. The family are descended from Michael De Monto Alto, 1252.