Hatt

This curious name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "haett", and means a head covering or hat. As a surname, Hatt has two different interpretations; firstly, it may be a metonymic occupational name for a hatter, a maker or seller of hats, or perhaps a nickname for someone who wore a particularly noticeable hat (or hats). Secondly, the surname may be topographical in origin, with "haett", hat, used in the transferred sense of a hill shaped like a hat, thus "dweller by the hill". Early examples of the surname from this source include: Thomas del Hat, recorded in the Oxfordshire Hundred Rolls of 1279, and Richard atte Hatte, listed in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the christening of Jane Hatt on November 2nd 1561, at St. Mary Somerset, and the marriage of Robert Hatt and Frances Wheeler at St. Benet's, Paul's Wharf, on November 15th 1636. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name depicts a black chevron between three blue annulets on a silver shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Hat, which was dated 1148, in Ekwall's, "Early London Personal Names", during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.