The English surname Hammett originated in Devon in southwestern England. The name is derived from a pet form of the Norman personal name Hamo.  The personal name Hamo is generally from a continental Germanic name Haimo, a short form of various compound names beginning with haim ‘home’, although it could also be from the Old Norse personal name Hámundr, composed of the elements hár ‘high’ + mund ‘protection.’ The first written reference to the name is shown to be that of William Hamet, which was dated 1297, in the Ministers Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall. On April 18th 1729, George Hammett married Elizabeth Hughson at St. Dunstan, Stepney, in London.