Wratten

This is an English locational surname. It originates either from the village of West Wratting in Cambridgeshire, formerly recorded as "Wreattinge" in the records known as the Saxon Chartularies of the year 974 a.d., and as "Wratinge" in the Domesday Book of 1086, or from the settlements now known as Great and Little Wratting in the county of Suffolk , and recorded as "Wratinga" in the Domesday Book. Both placenames share the same meaning and derivation, which is from a derivative of the pre 7th Century word "wraett", meaning a crosswort, a herbaceous plant with pale yellow flowers and whorls of hairy leaves, and hence "place where crosswort grew". In the modern idiom the surname has many spellings ranging from Wratting, Wretton and Wratten, to Ratten and Reeton. Recordings of the surname from early surviving church registers include such examples as the marriage of Joan Wratting and Edmond Assar on October 5th 1574, at the village of Bengeo; the marriage of Elizabeth Wratinge and John Carter on October 24th 1595, at Sawbridgeworth; and the marriage of Richard Wratten and Alice Lyon on July 15th 1596, at Watford. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of Lawrence Wraton, which was dated February 2nd 1543. He was a christening witness at Kirkham, in the county of Lancashire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.