The surname Evatt is British, with

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...

roots. Modern spelling deviations include ''Evatte,'' ''Evett,'' ''Evettes,'' ''Evitt'', ''Evitts,'' ''Evitte,'' and ''Evittes.'' Early British spellings of this surname did not include the ''double t,'' having, instead, a ''single t,'' as in ''Evot'' and ''Euote.'' According to ''The Book of English Surnames'', all of the above ''Evatt'' surname spellings are diminutives of ''Eve''. Contrary to a commonly held belief, ''Evatt'' is not a derivative of the surname ''Evans'', as ''Evan'' is the Welsh form of ''John'', dating from about 1500 AD, well after the ''Evatt/Euote'' surname was already in wide use in England. The surname ''Evatt/Euote'' was first seen in England in the year 1295 AD, and recorded in the Barnwell Church. The record concerned a William Walter Euote. The known Evatt Family Tree begins with the William Walter Euote referenced above. He was born about 1266 AD near

Ruskington Ruskington is a large village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, located approximately 4 miles (7 km) north of Sleaford on the north–south B1188 road and slightly north of the A153 road. The village ...

in Lincolnshire County, in England. The Evatt family name can be found in England, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. More Evatts are found in South Carolina than any other part of the world."The Evatt Clan" pub. 2013, Danny Evatt, ASIN: B00GEFAXSW. Following World War II, Herbert Vere Evatt (1894-1965),

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

, politician and writer, achieved international fame as the third

President of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

in 1948-49, where he was instrumental in the drafting of the United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

(1948). The Evatt family motto, as recorded on the 13th Century Evatt Coat of Arms held by the Evatt family of New Zealand, is "Be Just and Fear Not". An alternate version of the motto, as recorded on the 17th Century Family Crest held by the Evett Family of New Zealand, is "

Festina Lente ''Festina lente'' () or ''speûde bradéōs'' (, ) is a classical adage and oxymoron meaning "make haste slowly" (sometimes rendered in English as "more haste, less speed"). It has been adopted as a motto numerous times, particularly by the emp ...

" - "More haste, less speed".

Notes

{{Reflist Surnames