This interesting name is a patronymic from the early medieval occupational surname 'Wright', used to describe a maker of machinery or objects, mostly in wood. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'Wyrhta' or 'Wryta', meaning 'craftsman, carpenter, joiner', and derivatives of the verb 'wyrcan', meaning to work, or to make. The word 'wright' was frequently joined to another word to specify the area of skill, as in 'Wheelwright', 'Cartwright', and 'Wainwright'. When 'Wright' is used as a surname on its own, it usually referred to a carpenter or a builder of windmills or watermills. Among the early recordings in London is the marriage of Samuel Wrison and Rebecca Venables on August 31st 1795 at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, and the christening of Mary Wrison of June 12th 1796 at St. Martin in the Fields. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Wryghtson, which was dated 1379, Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 11, 'Richard of Bordeaux', 1377 - 1399. 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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