The surname Watson literally means ‘son of Wat’. The first name Wat is a diminutive of the first name Walter (as in Wat Tyler, the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt during the reign of Richard II). This derivation arose because in medieval times the usual pronunciation of Walter was Water.

The first name Walter derives from the Old German name Waldhari. This is made up of two words-‘wald’ meaning ‘rule’, and ‘hari’ meaning ‘army’. So some original Walters may have been war leaders.

The first name Walter came to England with the Norman Conquest and appears frequently as a first name in the Domesday Book (where it was invariably Latinised to Walterius). Right through to the mid-seventeenth century it was more customary to pronounce this first name Water, and in consequence the popular diminutive Wat (or Watt) gave rise to that surname.

Other variations of names from the first-name source of Walter include Watts (short for Watson) and Watmough (‘Walter’s brother-in-law’). Waters (short for Walter’s son, derived from the early pronunciation of the surname as Waters) is also a derivation from a place name for a ‘dweller by the water or stream’.

The surname Watson is widespread throughout the land, but appears most numerously in the north of England and the southern Scottish counties.

The earliest appearance of the name Watson in the records is in the 1324 Rolls for the Manor of Wakefield in Yorkshire, when one Richard Watson is listed.

Watsons and Watts have excelled in many fields of science. The Scottish inventor James Watt (1736—1819) is generally credited with the invention of the steam engine, for which he was granted a patent in 1769; the watt, a unit of power, is named after him and he also coined the term ‘horsepower’; another of his inventions was the duplicating machine, to make quick copies of his records. Another Scotsman, the physicist Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt (1892—1973) was knighted in 1942 for his role in the development of radar (Radio Detection And Ranging), a device for locating aircraft which played a vital part in the defence of Britain against German bombing raids in World War II. Another, Dr Thomas A. Watson, worked as assistant to Alexander Graham Bell when he made the first trans-Atlantic telephone call in 1915. The American geneticist, James D. Watson (b. 1928), won a Nobel Prize in 1962 for his crucial role in the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA, the vital constituent in the genetic process.

In August 1965 Watts Riot in the Los Angeles ghetto (35,000 inhabitants) was the first big race riot in American history. Five days of burning, shooting and looting left 34 dead, 200 buildings destroyed and led to 3,900 arrests.

Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham (1730— 82), made a large bet that he could drive a coach and horses at full gallop through the eye of a needle. He then craftily built a 40-foot obelisk with a large opening at the base and won the wager. The ‘Needle’s Eye Folly’ still stands at Wentworth in Yorkshire as a memorial to his ingenuity.

English clergyman Isaac Watts (1674—1748) wrote hundreds of hymns, including ‘O God Our Help in Ages Past’ and ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’.

British-born chemist Richard Watson (1737—1816) was credited with saving the government £100,000 in 1787 with his improvements to gunpowder.

Places and geographic features named for Watson are rare. There are none in the United Kingdom, one each in Canada and Australia (towns called Watson), while the United States has 3 towns so named along with a Watsonton and a Watsonville. No major mountains are so named and only a few bodies of water: Canada’s Watson lake and Watson river and Australia’s Watson bay.

With about 118,000 namesakes Watson is the 43rd most popular surname in England and Wales. There are over 21,000 Watsons in Scotland where it is 17th in popularity. Watson is notably popular in and around Edinburgh where an estimated one in about 195 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Teesside, Glasgow and Leeds are other Watson strongholds. Around the world Watsons are most common in Wellington (one in 562 families), Canberra (one in 605) and Auckland (one in 607). The United States has more Watsons than the entire population of Derby-an estimated total of just over 252,000 makes this their 71st most popular surname.