Batts
A patronymic surname meaning “son of Batt,” with Batt a short form of Bartholomew.
The #4,179 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,439 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Batts is an English family name built from the nickname Batt, itself a short form of Bartholomew. The final -s is the familiar patronymic ending meaning “son of,” so the name originally signified “Batt’s son” or “son of Batt.” In older surname books, Batt is also linked to the wider cluster of Bartholomew-derived names such as Bates, Batson, and Batty.
History
Historical surname writers place Batts alongside other Bartholomew derivatives that became common in different English regions. The name appears in records by the late 13th century, and later sources note it especially in Oxon. as one of the local forms of Bartholomew. Like many short nickname surnames, it survived in several spellings and spread through ordinary parish and census use rather than through one famous family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname scholarship, Batts is often treated as part of a whole “Bartholomew family” of names, alongside Bates, Batson, and Batkin.
From the historical record
“Andrey Bendish, co. Norf. : FF. viii. 188. Awdrie Batts, temp. Bliz. Z. 1567. Bapt.— Aadrye ChaUerton: St. Michael, ComhiU. 157Q. Married— Geoige Barton and”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)