Origin and popularity of the name CATT

Origin

Catt : 1: English (Sussex and Kent): nickname from Middle English c(h)at ‘cat’ (Old English catt Norman and Picard Old French cat Parisian Old French chat). The word is found in similar forms in most European languages from very early times (e.g. Gaelic cath Old Slavic kotъ). Domestic cats were unknown in Europe in classical times when weasels fulfilled many of their functions for example in hunting rodents. They seem to have come from Egypt where they were regarded as sacred animals.2: English: occasionally perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English female personal name Cat a pet form of Catelin ‘Catherine’. See Catlin. Alternatively perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English personal name Cat(te) or Chat(te) a survival of Old C(e)atta which is well attested in placenames.3: Americanized form of North German Katt.

Caston : English (Norfolk): habitational name from a place in Norfolk named Caston from an unattested Old English personal name Catt or the Old Norse personal name Káti + Old English tūn ‘farmstead settlement’. Alternatively sometimes a topographic name of Norman origin for someone who lived by a notable tree from Anglo-Norman French casteyn ‘chestnut tree’.

Castree : from Catstree in Worfield (Shrops) for which the 1360 bearer cited below constitutes the earliest evidence. The place-name probably derives from an Old English personal name or byname *Catt (genitive *Cattes) + trēow ‘tree’ though the first element might alternatively be Old English catt ‘cat’ (genitive singular cattes).

Cattaway : from Cattawade (Suffolk) which is recorded as Cattiwad in 1247 and Cattaway in the 17th century (in Essex Record Office and Suffolk Record Office (Ipswich)). The place-name derives from Old English catt ‘cat’ + (ge)wæd ‘ford shallow place by which water can be crossed’.

Ketton : 1: from Ketton (Rutland) which is recorded as Chetenea in 1163 Ketene in 1174 Ketone in 1322 and Ketton in 1519. The origin of the place-name is uncertain. It may derive from a derivative of British *cēto ‘wood’ or an Old English personal name *Cēta (genitive *Cētan) + Old English ēa ‘stream’. Some of the bearers cited here may alternatively belong to (3). 2: from Ketton in Aycliffe (Durham) but it is uncertain that this surname survived into the modern period. The place-name is recorded as Cattun about 1123 and probably derives from Old English catt ‘cat’ + tūn ‘farmstead estate’. 3: for the Notts name see Keeton. 4: for the Lancs name see Caton.

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 5,907 individuals with the name CATT on Geneanet.

This last name in the family trees

See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name CATT