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There are a few variations of the surname Hammett; Hamonet, Hammott and Hammat being the most common. The M and T might be either single or doubled.
Geoffrey of Manmouth, in the 12th century, records a Lelius Hamo as Roman Emperor Claudius' Chief of Staff. Edward I occupied the throne of England when a William Hamet was recorded in, 'The Ministers Accounts of Cornwall in 1297'. It is the first documented instance of its use as a surname. He held property near Hammett Manor. A MP Benjamin Hammet member to the City of London was from Taunton, Somerset; which county borders North Eastern Devonshire. Both are within the English historical area known as Wessex. IGI records indicate a Cornwall or Devonshire origin of the Hammett surname as well as its varients, Hamonet and others, commencing in the 16th century. The Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames lists Hammett to be of Old Germanic Origin. Futher credible sources relate that it derives from either Ham, Hamm, or Hamo of the Old English. In Current English the word is Home. Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary has:
'hám, es; m. Home, house, abode, dwelling, residence, habitation, house with land, estate, property; domus, domicilium, prædium, villa, mansio, possessio :-- Se hám is gefylled mid heofonlícum gástum that abode [heaven] is filled with heavenly spirits, Blickl. Homl. 25, 33: 9, 7. Ðes atola hám this horrid abode [hell], Cd. 215; Th. 270, 26; Sat. 96. Tó cyniges háme ad mansionem regiam, L. R. S. 1; Th. i. 432, 7: Shrn. 187, 7, 22. Ðá gerád Æþelwald ðone hám æt Winburnan ... and sæt binnan ðæm hám mid ðǽm monnum ðe him tó gebugon and hæfde ealle ða geatu forworht then Ethelwald rode and occupied the residence at Winborne and sat within with those men that had joined him, and he had blockaded all the entrances, Chr. 901; Erl. 96, 26-30. Mínre yldstan déhter ðæne hám æt Welewe and ðære gingestan ðone hám æt Welig to my eldest daughter the vill at Wellow, and to the youngest the vill at Welig, Th. Chart. 488, 29-33. Gif cyning æt mannes hám drincæþ if the king drink at a man's house, L. Eth. 3; Th. i. 4, 1: L. H. E. 15; Th. i. 32, 17: L. Alf. pol. 21; Th. i. 76, 1. Hælend com tó Lazares hám Jesus had come to the home of Lazarus, Blickl. Homl. 69, 21. Ðá Noe ongan hám staðelian then began Noah to establish his home, Cd. 75; Th. 94, 4; Gen. 556. In hús fadores mínes hámas meniga sint in domo patris mei mansions multæ sunt, Jn. Skt. Lind. 14, 2: 23. Nǽron ðá welige hámas there were not then splendid mansions, Bt. 15; Fox 48, 4. Wæs forðon hæbbend monigra hámas erat enim habens multas possessiones, Mt. Kmbl. Lind. 19, 22. Hig cíptun ealle hire hámas vendebant omnia prædia sua, Gen. 47, 20. On hira hámon in possessionibus suis, 48, 6. Se cyng him wel gegifod hæfde on hámon and on golde and seolfre and forbærndon Tegntún and eác fela óðra gódra háma ... and ðone hám æt Peonhó ... and ðone hám æt Wealthám and óðra cotlífa fela the king had given him many gifts oft vills and of gold and silver. And they burned down Teignton and many other good vills too ..., and the vill at Penhoc ..., and the vill at Waltham, and many other hamlets, Chr. 1001; Erl. 136, 16-32. Ðǽr hé rád betwih his hámum oððe túnum equitantem inter civitates sive villas, Bd. 2, 16; S. 520, 10. Abbud of Peortaneá ðam hám Abbas de Monasterio Peartanea, S. 519, 28. Æt hám domi, Mk. Skt. 9, 33: Lk. Skt. 9, 61. Ðú nére æt hám you were not at home, Cod. Dipl. Kmbl. iv. 26, 9. Hám, acc. is used adverbially after verbs of motion :-- Ðá hé hám com cum venisset domum, Mt. Kmbl. 9, 28. Hig cyrdon ealle hám reversi sunt unusquisque in domum suam, Jn. Skt. 7, 53. Ðá se cing lýfde eallon Myrceon hám the king allowed all the Mercians to go home, Chr. 1049; Erl. 172, 37: 1066; Erl. 200, 9. [Goth. haims; f. a village: O. Sax. hém a dwelling-place: Icel. heimr an abode, world, this world: heim; adv. home: O. H. Ger. haim domus, domicilium, patria; haim; adv: Ger. heim.]'
hámettan; p. te To provide with a home, to house :-- Denewulf bisceop lýfde Beornulfe his mége ðæt he, móste ða inberðan menn hámettan tó Ebblesburnan nú hebbe ic hí hámet bishop Denewulf allowed Beornulf his kinsman to house the inborn people at Ebblesburn. I have now housed them, Th. Chart. 152, 3-7. v. ge-hámettan.
Historical instance of it occurs in the English Charters, DCCCC.II or 902:
'Denewulf bisceop lýfde Beornulfe his mége ðæt he, móste ða inberðan menn hámettan tó Ebblesburnan nú hebbe ic hí hámet bishop Denewulf allowed Beornulf his kinsman to house the inborn people at Ebblesburn. I have now housed them, Th. Chart. 152, 3-7. v. ge-hámettan.'
The Doomsday Book records a Hamet or Hammett Manor 1087 in South East Cornwall. It was therein noted as having belonged to an Alnoth before the Conquest of 1066. A nearby Roman Camp sets the area's strategic significance, and along with Callington and other well known settlements mark incursions west of the Tamar within Dumnonii, South West Wales by the named Anglo Saxons. The Cornish were not to rise again after being defeated by King Egbert at Hingston Down, East Cornwall in 838. The area was one in which Alfred the Great as well as other English notables held properity.