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WATSON Family History

This is a famous Anglo-Scottish surname of great antiquity. Very popular in the north of England and the Border Country, it is one of the patronymic forms of the pre 7th century popular male personal name Watt, itself a development of the Anglo-Saxon personal name and later surname, Walter. This has the interesting translation of 'powerful warrior'. It is also claimed that the name was introduced into the British Isles by the Norman-French invaders after the Conquest of England in 1066, in the forms of Waltier and Wautier. Certainly in the medieval period of history the name generated a number of different spellings amongst them the short forms of Wat, Watt and Walt, and from these the patronymics Watts, Wattis, and the popular Watson...