This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Patrick,' from the nick. Pate, and diminutive Patt-in or Patt-on; v. Paton and Pattinson. Mr. Lower quotes Burke's Landed Gentry to the following effect:

'Richard Patten, son and heir of Richard Patten, was of Patine, or Patten, near Chelmsford, Essex, in 1119. From him the Pattens of Bank Hall. Lancashire, claim lineal descent': Patronymic Britannia

I do not assert that this is true or false. All I say is that the Scottish and North-English Pattens have no local derivation, but are the sons of Patrick.

1583. Edward Patten and Dorothy Wainforde: Marriage Lic (London).

1695. Baptised — Martha, d. Thomas Patton: St. James, Clerkenwell.

Apart from a few families named from English place-names or, in the case of Paton and Patton, alternatively from a diminutive of the personal name Patrick, the surnames at the head of this section are derived from the Irish Ó Peatáin. This in its place of origin-near Ballybofey in Co. Donegal-was first anglicized as O'Pettane and later became Patton. Murtough Ó Peatáin whose death in 1178 is recorded by the Four Masters, was of the Cenél Moen, so he too came from the barony of Raphoe.

In Connacht the anglicized form is usually Peyton, which is mainly found in Co. Mayo. This branch of the sept appears to have followed the O'Donnells from Donegal in the early seventeenth century.

The prominent landed family of Laheen, Co. Leitrim, however, descend from an English clergyman Rev. Thomas Peyton, who became Dean of Tuam in 1625. Among the more prominent men of the name in Ireland were Christopher Peyton, who carried out the Desmond Survey which bears his name in 1586 and Sir John Peyton, surveyor general (Ordnance) 1684.

1 the French Patin, from the Old Teutonic name-stem Pat-, with the French diminutive suff. -in.

2 Patten, Pattin, like Paton, are so common in Scotland and the North of England that there must be another source besides the French name-prob. the diminutive of Patrick, (q.v.), with the French diminutive suff. -in.

In Donegal, where these names are mainly found, they are anglicized forms of O Peatdin, which is on record there as far back as 1178.

Elsewhere they can be English in origin. SIF 123; Map Don

“Clog” or “Wooden Shoe”.

(English) Descendant of little Pat, a pet form of Patrick (noble or patrician).

According to B L.G., Richard Patten, son and heir of Richard Patten, was of Patine, or Patten, near Chelmsford, co. Essex, in 1119. From him the Pattens of Bank Hall, co. Lancaster, claim lineal descent.

A location name in Salop, Yorkshire.

A family of Patten or Patine resided near Chelmsford, Essex, in the 12th century, and the Pattens of Bank Hall, Lancashire, claim to be from this origin (L.). James Patten held the Woodwicks estate in Rickmansworth, Herts, apparently some time during last century (Cus.). Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester in the reign of Henry VI., is said to have changed his name from Patten to Waynflete, after his birthplace in Lincolnshire, a common practice in those days, according to Holinshed, amongst learned and spiritual men.