HARRIOT.  English.  A variant of Harriet (q.v.), a feminine form of Harry (q.v.), meaning "home ruler."  Usage: America, England.

    In Tobias Smollett's play, The Reprisal, there is a Harriot, and in George Crabbe's poem, Squire Thomas, a Harriot is the heroine.

        Harriot was in truth
A tall fair beauty in the bloom of youth;
And from the pleasure and surprise, a grace
Adorn'd the blooming damsel's form and face;
"How fair, how gentle", said the Squire, "how meek,
And yet how sprightly, when disposed to speak!
Nature has bless'd her form, and Heaven her mind,
But in her favours fortune is unkind;
Poor is the maid—nay, poor she cannot prove
Who is enrich'd with beauty, worth, and love".

(Girls' Christian Names, Swan, 1905)