Three sources in America and one in Germany say the Dutes came out of France, probably Alsace-Lorraine (see records 56, 58 & 60). Marcel Dute of Holland, on the other hand, has done some research in Europe and has found that Dute is the name of a river there. There may therefore be more than one unrelated Dute family. Here is the text of a letter he got from the Gemeinde Westerkappeln, translated into English:
Dear Mr./Mrs. Dute:
The rural community of Duete in Westerkappeln was first mentioned in 1329. The name is explained in the book "The Field Names of the Municipality of Westerkappeln - Name Explanations". An extract from this book is enclosed. We know of no other explanations here. Also, the name Duete or Dute is unknown as a family name in Westerkappeln and environs.
The name of the rural community is linguistically identical with the name of the body of water Duete (first attested in 1329 as Dute) for the river which originates on the north slope of the Teutoburger Forest, flows through Hellern and Atter and east by Westerkappeln in the direction of Halen, and empties into the Hase. The name of this body of water (from Germanic *theutjo) is related to Old Saxon *thiotan, Old High German diozan, Middle High German diezen 'murmur like a brook', Old English theote 'stream, flowing water'.
This name, built from the Germanic root *theut, of a flowing body of water, has also been transferred in a few cases to one of the settlements on this river; compare perhaps Deuten (by Dorsten, in Kreis Recklinghausen) < 890 Thiutina and Duethe (near Lathen, Emsland).
You can find some of these places on http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm.
Deuten by Dorsten is maybe 25 miles north of Dusseldorf, not far from Holland, 278.2 miles west of Berlin. Duethe near Lathen is in the same neighborhood but farther north, 256.5 miles west of Berlin. The Teutoberger Forest is just south of Osnabruck, and the Hase is a river that goes from there north and empties into the Ems.
Here are two pictures provided by Marcel Dute. The first is of the Duete River in Westerkappeln, Germany; the second is of Marcel next to a roadsign for the nearby town of Duete, a little village of 5 or 10 houses.
Here are two scans of Marcel Dute's map of the village of Duete in Westerkappeln (this is neither the one by Dorsten nor the one near Lathen). The Duete river right next to it is traced in red. You can see the first three letters of the town of Osnabruck on the right.
The following is from an e-mail to Fred Griswold of 9/3/05 from Bob Mueller, a Dietz researcher:
It appears that about 1400 to 1700 saw a defining of surnames, and I could see the Dietz probably sounded right for the name of the early "mound builder" tribes that lived just northeast of Bebra on the Thuringer Hessen border. Don't know much about them, but they were called Deust. Old relics of bronze farm implements have been found in the area of Bebra dating back to the Bronze Age. With this bit of wisdom, I read the Bebra book and then wrote the following which is more information about names. I know you said that Dute came from Alsaece, which is probably right. Just thought I would throw out a feeler. Here is another excerpt (Hen was the old word for Hans):
In 1627 the Landgraf von Hessen was chosen as Hesse-Kassel Regent. Prince was Maurice Landgrave de Hessen. Moritz der Gelehrte started the Rotenburg Court. The nobles all lived in Rotenburg next to the Landgraf of Hessen. One nobleman, Adam von Trott oversaw the Bitzenhof, which was occupied by Wilhelm von Romrod and von Berlepsch. At the time the village had 13 farmers including Georg Deust senior, Georg Deust junior, Dolle Gleim, Heinrich Gleim, Joist Gleim all living in the village. Industry was beginning and a Leineweber (linen maker) Henn Diez also lived in Bebra.
The records show a surname is now spelled as Deuts which most likely was pronounced the same as Dietz, and I suspect these Diets, Deuts, Diez, etc. living in Bebra, were all our ancestors making up much of the town population.
As one who's studied German, my comment is that the Germanic root *theut is not a likely source for the name Dute, since the "t" would have developed into "z" (pronounced "ts") and "eu" would probably have developed into "ie", by the normal sound laws. But what with all the dialects and stuff you never know.