The surname of BAITY was a baptismal name 'the son of Bartholomew' from the nickname Bate. As a given name in Christian Europe, this name derives its popularity from the apostle St. Bartholomew, the patron saint of tanners, vintners and butlers, about whom virtually nothing is known. The name was in Scotland at an early date and many original bearers of the name may have taken their name from the lands of Baith or Baythe in Fife. The earliest of the name on record appears to be John BAIT, who was a witness in Perthshire in 1548, and he was also Burgess of Newburgh, Fife in 1549. Alba, the country which became Scotland, was once shared by four races; the Picts who controlled most of the land north of the Central Belt; the Britons, who had their capital at Dumbarton and held sway over the south west, including modern Cumbria; the Angles, who were Germanic in origin and annexed much of the Eastern Borders in the seventh century, and the Scots. The latter came to Alba from the north of Ireland late in the 5th century to establish a colony in present day Argyll, which they named Dalriada, after their homeland. The Latin name SCOTTI simply means a Gaelic speaker. A later instance of the name mentions John Baithe who was the Burgess of Aberdeen in 1570. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but the main of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name. |
ORDER BY NOVEMBER 28th FOR XMAS DELIVERY
VIEW OUR CREST GIFT ITEMS HEREPURCHASE AN EMAILED JPG PURCHASE A HISTORY & CREST 
|