Catt Family History

English (Sussex and Kent): nickname from Middle English c(h)at ‘cat’ (Old English catt Norman and Picard Old French cat Parisian Old French chat). The word is found in similar forms in most European languages from very early times (e.g. Gaelic cath Old Slavic kotъ).

Domestic cats were unknown in Europe in classical times when weasels fulfilled many of their functions for example in hunting rodents. They seem to have come from Egypt where they were regarded as sacred animals.

English: occasionally perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English female personal name Cat a pet form of Catelin ‘Catherine’. See Catlin.

Alternatively perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English personal name Cat(te) or Chat(te) a survival of Old C(e)atta which is well attested in placenames.

Americanized form of North German Katt.