Donat Family History

French, German, Polish, and English; Czech and Slovak (Donát): from a medieval personal name (from Latin Donatus, past participle of donare, frequentative of dare ‘to give’).

As a personal name, this was favored by early Christians either because the birth of a child was seen as a gift from God or else because the child was in turn regarded as being dedicated to God.

The name was borne by various early Christian saints, among them a 6th-century hermit of Sisteron and a 7th-century bishop of Besançon, all of whom contributed to the popularity of the baptismal name in the Middle Ages.

This popularity was not checked by the heresy of a 4th-century Carthaginian bishop who also bore it.

Scottish: variant of Dunnett.