PRATT
The name Pratt has a history dating as far back as
the Anglo- Saxon tribes of Britain. It was a name for a trickster;
for a practical joker. Further research reviled that the name is
derived from the old English word Prutt, which meant" A Trick" were
alternatively and Astute." A broad and miscellaneous class of
surnames, nickname surnames referred to a characteristic of the first
person who used the name. They can describe the bearer's, favored
style of clothing, appearance, habits, or character. Nickname
surnames were frequently the result of a spontaneous reaction to a
particular occasion or event. It is possible the name was given to
the original bearer as a result of a particularly brilliant and
widely successful practical joke.
During the Middle Ages, under a feudal system of
government, people began to assume a extra name to avoid being
mistaken with others of the same name. Nickname surnames such as
Pratt where derived from the Eke-name, or added name. They reflected
a physical characteristic or a tribute of the first person who used
the name.
Until quite recently, the English language as lacked
a definite system of spelling rules. Consequently, Anglo-Saxon
surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations,
changes in Anglo-Saxon names were influenced by the evolution of the
English language, as it incorporated elements of French, Latin, and
other languages. Although medieval scribes and church officials
recorded names as a they sounded, so it is common to find one person
referred by several different spellings of his surname, even the most
literate people varied the spelling of their own names. Variations of
the name Pratt includes Pratts, Pratte, Pratt and Prat.
During the period after the fall of the Roman Empire,
known as the dark ages, even emperors like the great Frankish King
CharlyMagen could not read or write. Men of the church were the sole
guardians of the written word. Monks translated and revised classical
text and recorded births, deaths, marriages, and land purchases. They
were responsiable for such documents as the assize rolls, the
inquisitio, ragman rolls, Domesday book, baptismal records, parish
records, cartularies, and tax records. The history of the Pratt
family were found in Suffolk, where 1179, there were two bearers of
the name. Wifric Prat and Withmer Pret were both recorded in Sulffolk
in that year. Idmund Pret was recorded in Berkshire in 1192. Dereman
Le Prat was listed in church records in Kent in 1198. Richard Pritte
was listed in Essex in 1295. William Le Pritte was recorded in Surrey
in 1332.
Some of the family moved to Ireland in the plantation
of Ulster. In 1890, a census of British families in Ireland was
taken. At that time, it was estimated that there were over 448 people
bearing the surname Pratt. About 40% were found in the Province of
Ulster.
Although the English nation survived the plagues and
famine of the Middle Ages, England was devastated by the religious a
political conflict of the modern era. Under the house of Stuart,
there were conflicts between the king and parliament, and between
Catholics and Protestants. The Stuarts ousted from power fist by
Cromwell in the 1649, and later in the same century by the "Glorious
Revolution", which resulted in a long series of Jacodite uprising.
Searching for a better life, many English families
migrated to British colonies.
Unfortunately, the majority of them traveled under
extremely harsh conditions overcrowding on the ships cased the
majority of the immigrants to arrive diseased, famished, and
destitute from the long journey across the ocean. For those families
that arrived safely, modest prosperity was attainable, and many went
on to make invaluable contributions to the development of the
cultures of the new colonies. Research into their origins of
individual families on North America revealed records of the
immigration of a number of people bearing the name Pratt or a variant
listed above, John Prat who landed in Virginia in 1607, thirteens
years before the "Mayflower" Phineas Pratt who landed in Maine in
1622, Abraham and Jane Pratt who landed in Salem in 1630, Richard
Pratt who landed in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1630, William and
John Pratt who landed in Cambridge Massasshusettes in 1630,
originally of Ryston Hall, Isaac Pratt who landed in the Barbados in
1685.
John Pratt was one of the first immigrants to the
United States in the 17th century.
The 1984 edition of the report of distribution of
surnames in the Social Security lists the surname Pratt as the 475th
most popular surname in the United States.
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