Famous Namesakes

A word of caution: sharing a surname is not the same as sharing ancestors. None of the people below has been connected to Gideon Merlet’s family on this site, and some of these spellings, especially the French Merlet, surely arose on their own. They are not part of the family tree here. If you know how one of them fits in, we would love to hear from you.

Sports

• Jeff Malott born 1996 Malott
  Canadian left winger in the National Hockey League, with the Anaheim Ducks after time with the Winnipeg Jets and Los Angeles Kings. He played college hockey at Cornell University.
• Tommy Mellott born 2001 Mellott
  Montana State quarterback from Butte, Montana, winner of the 2024 Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in FCS college football. He was drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025.
• Wes Malott born 1976 Malott
  Professional ten-pin bowler.
• Mike Malott born 1991 Malott
  Canadian mixed martial artist.
• Ally Malott born 1992 Malott
  American basketball player.
• Harvey Marlatt born 1948 Marlatt
  Professional basketball player.

Arts and entertainment

• Doug Marlette 1949–2007 Marlette
  Editorial cartoonist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, creator of the comic strip Kudzu (later a stage musical), and a novelist.
• Bob Marlette born 1955 Marlette
  Record producer and songwriter whose credits include Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Sheryl Crow. See his IMDb page.
• Agnès Merlet born 1959 Merlet
  French film director of Son of the Shark, Artemisia and Dorothy Mills.
• Daphne Marlatt born 1942 Marlatt
  Canadian poet, novelist and playwright, and a Member of the Order of Canada.
• Earl Marlatt 1892–1976 Marlatt
  Theologian and poet who wrote the hymn “Are Ye Able.”
• Hamilton Irving Marlatt 1867–1929 Marlatt
  Painter from Rochester, New York.
• Dominique Merlet born 1938 Merlet
  French pianist, organist and teacher.
• Michel Merlet 1939–2026 Merlet
  French composer and teacher.

IMDb also lists a number of actors and film crew named Malott and Mellott, most with a handful of credits.

Public life, science and learning

• Deane W. Malott 1898–1996 Malott
  Born in Abilene, Kansas. Chancellor of the University of Kansas (1939–1951) and sixth president of Cornell University (1951–1963), where Malott Hall is named for him.
• Harry C. “Bud” Malott 1917–1997 Malott
  Member of the Ohio House of Representatives for Clermont County, 1973–1990, a World War II veteran and owner of the Buckeye Log Cabin between Mount Orab and Williamsburg. A Brown and Clermont County Malott buried at Mount Orab, he is almost certainly a cousin, though exactly how is not yet known. See also his Wikipedia article.
• Byron Mallott 1943–2020 Mallott
  Lieutenant Governor of Alaska (2014–2018) and a Tlingit clan leader.
• Charles Lester Marlatt 1863–1954 Marlatt
  Entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
• G. Alan Marlatt 1941–2011 Marlatt
  University of Washington psychologist known for his research on addiction and relapse prevention.
• Abby Lillian Marlatt 1869–1943 Marlatt
  Educator and pioneer of home economics.
• Abby Marlatt 1916–2010 Marlatt
  Educator and civil rights advocate.
• Arthur J. Mellott 1888–1957 Mellott
  American judge.
• Frances K. Marlatt 1901–1969 Marlatt
  Member of the New York State Assembly.

And one of our own

• Mark Malott Malott
  The owner of this site, and a descendant of Gideon Merlet through Delos, Theodore “Dory” and Peter Malott. Mark has his own IMDb entry, where he is known for Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature, a documentary about the making of The Shawshank Redemption.

Any cousins here?

Most of these connections are unknown, but a few are tempting. Bud Malott, the Clermont County legislator, came from the heart of the family’s Ohio country and now has his own page on this site. Deane W. Malott was born in Kansas in 1898, and Malott families from Ohio and Indiana moved west to Kansas in the 1800s. Tommy Mellott carries the Mellott spelling of the Maryland and Pennsylvania branch. Either might well be a distant cousin, but only a documented family tree could say for sure.