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The name Gyatt was brought to England in the great wave of migration following the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from Guyat, a pet form of the Old French given name Guy. 1
The surname Gyatt was first found in Sussex though the name "has gone through the various forms of Wyat, Wiat, Wyot, and Guyot, or Guiot. The last-named three are used indifferently in the time of King John, and clearly prove the derivation of the name as a diminutive, from the Norman-French personal name Gui or Guido, which we have also received in the form of Guy. The name Guyatt is still found in West Sussex." 2
Another noted source provides early entries for the name as a forename: Wiot de Acham in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1192; Wioth de Cratella in Northumberland (no date given); Gwiot in the Curia Regis Rolls for Gloucestershire in 1203; and Wyot in the Assize Rolls for Yorkshire in 1219. 3 Rolling back to earlier spellings as a surname, Reaney notes Thomas Guyot in the Feet of Fines for Essex in 1295 and Henry Guyot in the Subsidy Rolls for Somerset in 1327.
The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 proved the widespread use of the name both as a forename and surname: Ayote uxor Wyot, Shropshire; Henry Wyot, Cambridgeshire; Wyott le Carpentier, Buckinghamshire; and Wyot de Dudelebury in Shropshire. 4
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gyatt research. Another 167 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1460, 1503, 1506, 1509, 1513, 1521, 1536, 1537, 1542, 1543, 1550, 1554, 1588, 1616, 1623, 1624, 1644, 1663, 1685, 1731, 1746 and 1813 are included under the topic Early Gyatt History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Wyatt, Wyat and others.
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Sir Henry Wyatt (1460-1537), an English courtier from Yorkshire; and his son, Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542), an early English language poet and statesman, knighted by Henry VIII in 1536; Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (1521-1554), an English rebel leader during the reign of Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called "Wyatt's rebellion"; George...
Another 63 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gyatt Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Gyatt or a variant listed above were: Sir Francis and Lady Margaret Wyatt, who settled in Virginia in 1621; George Wyatt, who arrived in Virginia in 1662; Christopher Wyatt, who settled in Barbados with his servants in 1680.