Watters
A surname usually treated as a variant of Waters, and in some cases as a form of Walter or Watt.
The #3,113 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,687 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The main English explanation is that Watters is a spelling variant of Waters, which in turn was often used as a surname from Walter, a common medieval personal name. In some records it may also reflect Watt or Wat, pet forms of Walter, with a plural or patronymic ending added. In Irish contexts, the name is also found as an anglicized or adapted surname in places where similar-sounding forms were used for local Gaelic names, though the exact pathway can vary by family.
History
19th- and early-20th-century surname writers commonly grouped Watters with Waters, Waterson, and Walterson as related forms. The name appears in English records, and it is also found in Ireland, including Ulster; this makes it one of those surnames whose spelling can point to more than one family history. Because the forms overlap, individual bearer lines may descend from Walter, Watt, or a local Irish name rendered into English spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname references often treated Watters as simply a spelling variant rather than a separate origin, which is why old directories and parish records can scatter the same family under several closely related forms.
From the historical record
“Green, Hist. Eng. People, p. 486. WATTERS, like Waters, a form of Walters, q.v. WATTERSON, like Waterson, a forin of Walterson, q.v. WATTIE =Watt (q.v.) -|- the E. dim. suff. -U. WATTIS=Wattie's (Son) : v. Wattie. WATTLEWORTH, aa assim. form of Ward le- worth, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)