Cutts Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History

This surname is a baptismal one meaning “the son of Cuthbert”, which derives from the nickname Cutt. The name was often found is districts where St. Cuthbert (634-687 AD), a saint in the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition that became important in Northern England after his dealth and had a cult centered at his tomb in Durham Cathedral, was popular. It may be an anglicized version of German kotz or German/Jewish katz. Foreign equivalents include Kutt, Kutter, and Kuttig (German) and Couthy, and Coutier (Flemish). Spelling variants include Cutt, Cutte, Cut, and Cuts. Yet another author notes it comes from the Middle English word cudbert and the Old English word cuth (famous) beorht (bright).

The earliest people bearing this surname include Cutus de Lincoln recorded in county Lincoln in 1273  AD in the Hundred Rolls, as well as Willelmus Cutte, Radulphus Cutte, and Johannes Cuttesone, who were all recorded in the Poll Tax of county Yorkshire in 1273 AD. John Cut was recorded in the Pipe
Rolls of Herefordshire in 1185 AD. A William Cutt, alias Cuttes, the son of

Robert Cuttes of Sheffield, was recorded in 1610 AD in the book Visitations of London by Henry St. George. One author believes the name was first found in Cambridgeshire. Early marriages involving this surname include Gertrude Cutson to John Stranwayes in London in 1546 AD.

Early American settlers bearing the surname Cutt, which later became Cutts, include John Cutt, of Portsmouth, son of Richard, was a member of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament in 1654, was a merchant from Wales who married Hannah Star in 1662 and had the following children: John (1663), Elizabeth

(1664), Hannah (1666), Mary (1669), and Samuel (1679). Robert’s brother, John, of the same city, went to Barbados from New England, but came back to live in Kittery in 1663. He built many vessels. His second wife was named Mary, and they had children Richard, Elizabeth, Robert, Bridge, Mary, and Sarah. Another Roger Cutts, came to Virginia in August of 1635 from the port of London aboard the George. Others include William Cutts (Virginia 1657), Susanna Cutts (Virginia 1662), and Michael Cutts (Pennsylvania 1738).

Notables Americans bearing this last name include Charles Cutts (1769-1846), the son of Samuel Cutts, a Senator from the state of New Hampshire, and also Richard Cutts (1771-1845)  who was a congressman in the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

Blazons & Genealogy Notes

1) (Childerley, co. Cambridge, bart., extinct 1670, descended from Sir John Cutts, Knt. of Thaxted, in Esses, who settled at Childerley before the year 1516; Sir John’s last direct descendant, Sir John Cutts, of Childerley, was created a bart. in 1660, but d. unm. in 1670, when the estate of Childerley passed to a distant relative, Richard Cutts. Esq., of Woodhall, in Essex, father of John Cutts, Lord Cutts, of Gowran, the gallant companion in arms of the Duke of Marlborough). (Lord Cutts, of Gowran. John Cutts, Esq., of Childerley, was so created in the peerage of Ireland, 1690, d. s.p. 1706). Ar. on a bend engr. sa. three plates. Crest—A greyhound’s head erased ar. collared gu. ringed or.
2) (Kent). Or, on a bend engr. sa. three plates each charged with a martlet of the second.
3) Or, on a bend engr. sa. three bezants each charged with a mullet sa.
4) Ar. on a bend engr. sa. three bezants within a bordure gobony or and gu.