Wyatte

History & Origin

Wyatte is a variant of Wyatt, which began as a medieval English form, Wyot or Guyat, of the Old English personal name Wigheard. The elements wig, 'war' or 'battle', and heard, 'brave' and 'hardy', combine to mean 'brave in war', later carried on as a surname before returning as a first name.

Where Wyatt boomed with the cowboy revival, the Wyatte spelling stayed a rare shadow of it, appearing modestly and reaching its own small peak in the early twenty-tens. It reads as a contemporary respelling rather than a vintage name, riding — but not leading — Wyatt's ongoing popularity.