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. These names became surnames in their own right from the 13th century. Bartholomew originates from the Aramaic patronymic 'bar-Talamy' and means 'one rich in land'. St. Bartholomew was popular in medieval times and was the patron saint of tanners, vintners and butlers. Early recordings include John Beatty, who is recorded as being a burgess of Aberdeen in 1473, and Robert Bettie was a burgess of Melrose in 1535. Sir William Beatty, the naval physician, attended Lord Nelson at Trafalgar in 1805, whilst Admiral Beatty was the victor of Jutland in 1915. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hew Batie, which was dated 1334, in the Scottish Rolls in the Tower of London, during the reign of King David 11 of Scotland, reigned 1329 - 1371. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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