Wyard

This name, with variant forms Wyatt, Wiatt, Whyatt, Whyard, Guyat(t), Gyatt, Guyot and Giot, derives from Guy-ot, a French diminutive form of the German male given name Wido itself coming from the old High German "witu" meaning "wood" or the old High German "wit", wide. The name was popular among the Normans in the form Wi and in the rest of France as Guy; hence, the diminutive Wi-ot, Wi-ard and Guy-ot. One, Wiot de Acham was recorded in the 1192 "Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire" and a Gwiot (without surname) in the 1203 "Curia Regis Rolls of Gloucestershire. The surname emerges in the latter part of the 13th Century, (see below). Further early recordings include William Wyot, (Shropshire, 1274), Thomas Guyot, (Essex, 1295) and William Wyatt, Co. Devon, - "The Oxford University Register", (1576). On March 1st 1607 Katherine, daughter of Nicholas Wyard, was christened in St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London and on August 26th 1637 Robert Wyard and Alice Bonnet were married in St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Wiot, which was dated 1273, "The Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.