Diélette: Normandy France, a port on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of Cherbourg,

Diélette: Normandy France, a port on the Cotentin Peninsula, west of Cherbourg, and north of Avranches. It serves not only the channel islands, but the west coast of the peninsula, and because it is a port and a strategic location, participated in regular wars. The region was conquered by the Normans in the 8-900s. My family came to England in 1066. Which is an interesting bit of luck, because so few names of those crossing are known.

Diélette: /di-e-let-te/
… Dié: Pronounced like “dee-eh”.
… lette: Pronounced “let-te” with a clear “t” and possibly a more pronounced “e” at the end.
… De Diêlette: deh dee’-eh-let’-teh
Anglicized over time, unfortunately in to Doolittle.
Dolietta 1066, Dolitel, Dolatel, (1279) Dolittel (1303) Dolitell (1579) Dolitill, Dolitle (1582), Dolitel, Doolitlie (1597) Doelittell (1600), Dolittle, Doolittle (1618). Note that these records do not represent the name’d person’s spelling, but that of whomever recorded the document.

The primary value I’ve taken from studying family history is that it personalizes history, and makes it meaningful.