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BEATY Family History

This is a famous 'Border' surname, and is recorded in the spellings of Beatty, Beattie and Beaty. As a 'border' name it is found equally in the counties on either side of the boundary between Scotland and England. It has long been thought to have been a metronymic from the female personal name 'Beatrice', but in fact derives from 'Bate' or 'Batey', diminutives or pet forms of the name 'Bartholomew'. This name was brought back from the Holy Land by the 12th century Crusaders, and was one of a group of similar Hebrew personal names (Thomas, Abraham, and Isaac for instance), which were subsequently given to sons of the Crusaders as a commemoration of their fathers deeds in the failed attempts to secure Jerusalem for Christianity.