This surname AYLETT was a baptismal name 'the son of Ailet' which was derived from the old personal name 'Aeselgeat' meaning noble-combat. Early records of the name mention Aliet (without surname) listed in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name was brought into England in the wake of the Norman Invasion of 1066. In 1086 the compilation of the Domesday Book was ordered by William the Conqueror (1027-87), king of England from 1066. He was born in Failaise, the bastard son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, by Arlette, a tanner's daughter. On his father's death in 1035, the nobles accepted him as a duke. When Edward the Confessor, king of England died in 1066, William invaded England that Autumn, on 14th October, 1066 killing Harold (who had become King). English government under William assumed a more feudal aspect, the king's tenants-in-chief and all title to land was derived from his grants, and the Domesday Book contains details of the land settlements, and the names of the owners of such. Galfridus filius Ailgheiti was documented in the year 1176, County Essex. Walter Aliot, 1279, County Cornwalll As early as the year 1100, it was quite common for English people to give French names to their children, and the earliest instances are found among the upper classes, both the clergy and the patrician families. The Norman-French names used were generally the names most commonly used by the Normans, who had introduced them into England during the Norman Invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066. Edward Aylett of Yorkshire, was recorded in County Somerset during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) and Thomas Aylett of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Most of the European surnames were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name.