Origin of the Name Tait
The ancient history of the name
Tait was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Tait
include Taite, Teyte and Tate. This name was originally a nickname derived from the old word 'teitr' meaning 'cheerful' or 'glad'. This name is usually of Scottish descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are Thomas Tait who received a payment due to him from the King in the year 1329. A John Tait was recorded as being connected with the Hospital of Montrose in 1362. An Alexander Tait was Burgess of Edinburgh in 1381 and an Andrew Tait was Master of the Flesher Craft of Edinburgh in the year 1490. Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for the overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired lands by either force or as gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Tait coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Tait descendants.