The history of the Mote name begins after the Normandy conquest of 1066.  They lived in Essex. The name however descends from the family's place of residence prior to the Normand conquest of England in 1066. Mott a town in Cote du Nord, Normandy.

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a mutitude of spelling variations.  When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of old and later middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been mis-spelled Mott, Motte, De Mott, De Motte and Demott and others.

First found in Essex, where the family was seated, from very early times, having been granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. 

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped, disease ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Mote or a variant listed above were: Adam Mott, who arrived with his wife Sarah and five children in Boston in 1635; Nathaniel Mott who arrived in New England in 1681; Peter Mott, who came to New York in 1711.