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Wight - Name

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This interesting and unusual name is of medieval Scottish and Northern English origin. It has several possible origins and meanings. It may be a form of the popular surname White, from the Olde English pre 7th century word "hwita", and referring to a person with very fair or white hair, and probably a reference to a Viking. Secondly it may be from the early English word "wigt" meaning valiant, and hence a nickname for a brave man, or possibly given the robust humour of the period, the reverse!. Thirdly it could be topographical for someone who lived by a bend in the road. Here the derivation is from the English word "wiht", itself a derivative of the earlier "wican", meaning to bend. It has also been suggested that the name could be locational and describe a former inhabitant of the Isle of Wight, but if so we have not been able to obtain any proof. This was a name of Ancient British or pre Roman origin, thought to mean "rises above the sea". Amongst the early recordings in the surviving registers of the city of London are the christenings of Charles Wight on November 18th 1735, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and of Andrew Wight on November 4th 1789 at St. Mary-le-Bone. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Wicht. This was dated 1176, in the Pipe Rolls of the city of Gloucester, during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154-1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.