Scarratt Family History

Tooth suggests it may refer to an unidentified locality in or near Audley (Staffs). It is implied by the surname of Henry Skaryok (1298) or Scarioc (1307) who appears as a tenant in Horton near Rudyard in the Audley estate records. Skaryok might refer to a damaged or mis-shaped oak tree (Middle English scarri ‘(?) scraggy’) later developing to Scariot through the common substitution of /t/ for final /k/.

Alternatively, he suggests that the spellings may be copyists' errors for Scariot perhaps a nickname from playing the part of Judas Iscariot in a mystery play. Either way, he notes that Thomas Skarriot appears in 1540 in the Audley parish registers and that the surname occurs as Scarriat (1559) and Skerratt (1557) in the parish registers of Betley a few miles SW of Audley.

The name also seems to have been thoroughly confused with the Staffs surname Sherrard and its many variants. The two names may have happened to coincide in the odd parish but the coincidence happens too often to be accidental as some of the following early bearers illustrate.