What's in a Name
"Watson" is a famous Anglo-Scottish surname of great antiquity. Very popular in the north of England and the Border Country, it is one of the patronymic forms of the pre 7th century popular male personal name Watt, itself a development of the Anglo-Saxon personal name and later surname, Walter. This has the interesting translation of 'powerful warrior'. It is also claimed that the name was introduced into the British Isles by the Norman-French invaders after the Conquest of England in 1066, in the forms of Waltier and Wautier.
Certainly in the medieval period of history the name generated a number of different spellings amongst them the short forms of Wat, Watt and Walt, and from these the patronymics Watts, Wattis, and the popular Watson.
In Scotland the earliest recording that we can find is that of John Watson, who held lands in Edinburgh in 1392. One of the earliest emigrants to the Virginia Colony in New England was John Watson. He left London on the ship "Speedwell" on May 15th 1635, although his later history is now lost. The first recorded spelling of the family name is probably that of Richard Watson. This was dated 1324, in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, in Yorkshire, and during the reign of King Edward 11th of England, 1307 - 1327.
George Watson, who was born in 1654 was the first of many successful bankers in Edinburgh. He left money to set up an orphanage for children and this later became George Watson's College which is nowadays one of the leading private schools in the city.
The engineer and inventor James Watt, born in Greenock, is best known for his development of the steam engine and the unit of power "watt" is named after him.
The development of radar which played such an important part in the Battle of Britain in 1940 (and the development of aviation thereafter) was due to Robert Watson-Watt who was born in Brechin in 1892.
The Watson clan motto is "Insperata floruit" which means "It has flourished beyond expectation".
Watson was the 20th most frequent surname at the General Register Office in 1995.
Later noted bearers of the surname include Alexander Graham Bell's telephone experiment partner Thomas A. Watson ("Mr. Watson--come here!"), James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA, and actress Emily. Two well known Watsons in fiction are Sherlock Holmes's accomplice, Dr (John) Watson, and Spider-Man's love interest, Mary Jane. All in all: a name with a varied and fascinating heritage.
Source: “History of the Watt and Watson Clan”,
