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[From Manx Note Book vol 3]
EXOTIC SURNAMES.
CHAPTER V.
UNDER THIS HEAD WE INCLUDE the Surnames which are neither of Celtic nor of Scandinavian formation, but have been introduced by immigration subsequent to the period of Norse domination. Amongst these the first place in order of time belongs to the HIBERNICISED ANGLO-NORMAN NAMES.
'After the murder of the Great Earl of Ulster, William de Burgo, the third Earl of that name in 1333, and the consequent lessening of the English power in Ireland, many, if not all the distinguished Anglo-Norman families seated in Connaught and Munster became Hibernicised-Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores-spoke the Irish language, and assumed surnames like those of the Irish, by prefixing Mac to the Christian names of their ancestors. . . . Thus the De Burgos, in Connaught, assumed the name of MACWILLIAM. . . . from these sprang many offsets . . . as the MACGIBBONS, MACWALTERS,'* &C.
Members of these families settled in the Isle of Mann, particularly in the south-western portion, and contracted their names of MACWALTER and MAC WILLIAM into the decidedly harsh QUALTROUGH and QUILLIAM.
O'Donovan, Introduction, Pp. 21-22.
QUALTROUGH, contracted from MacWalter, 'Walter's son,' (see Watterson).
Thomas MACWALTER, constable of Bunfinn,'* A.D. 1308.
The FITZWALTERS were the ancestors of the Princely line of Hamilton, in Scotland.
In the parishes of Rushen and Arbory half the population is called either QUALTROUGH or WATTERSON, and in Malew one-fourth.
MACQUALTROUGH [1429], QUALTROUGH [1430], MACWATER, MAC WHALTRAGH, WHALTRAGH, WATER [1511], MCQUALTHROUGH [1521], QUALTRAGH [1654], QUALTERAGH [1698].
Rushen, Arbory, Malew (vc) elsewhere (u).
WATTERSON, or WATERSON, a corruption of WALTERSON, is a translation of MacWalter. It seems probable that the English speaking MACWALTERS would adopt this name, whilst the Celtic would consent to have their name contracted into QUALTROUGH. We find WATER as a corruption of Walter in England. Thus in the Churchwardens accounts of Ludlow we have The account of WATTARE Taylor and Wyllyam Partynge, beynge churchwardens, in the xxxii yere of the rayne of Kyng Henry the eighth A.D. 1541.'+ This is also shown in the account of Suffolk's death in Shakespeare's Henry VI., where the murderer says-
'My name is WALTER Whitmore,
How now! Why start'st thou ? What doth death affright!
Suffolk-Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death,
A cunning man did calculate my birth,
And told me that by Water I should die.'
Some think that WATTERSON is a translation of Mac-yn-ushtey, 'Water-son,' but this is very doubtful. The only entry in the Registers of such a name is at Malew in 1669, when it states distinctly that 'William MACYNUSTEY' was 'an Irishman."
Four Mast., Vol. III, P. 489.
Bardsley Sumames, P. 215.
Manx Note Book, No. 8, p.86.
CHODERE was formerly used as a synonym for WATTERSON, members of the same family being called indifferently by one name or the other. CHODERE, however, was evidently used merely as a nickname, as it is not found in the Parish Registers. Mr. J. H. Watterson* thinks that CHODERE is a Manx corruption of GAULTIER or GAUTIER, the French original of the English WALTER.*
WATTERSON is as common in the Southern Parishes as Qualtrough.
WATERSONET [1422], WATTERSON [1504], WATER, WATERSON [1511], WALTERSON [1547].
Rushen, Arbory, Malew (vc), German, Patrick (c), elsewhere (u).
* Manx Note Book, No. 10, p. 99
End
An other piece of information is from one of the oldest records found on the Isle on Man.
http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/jmmuseum/d231.htm
[Quayle Bridge House Papers]
Document 231 [MS. 510 C]
Our Oldest Legal Records:Extracts from Sheading Court Rolls of A.D. 1417/18 preserved in an 18th century ‘Book of Precedents’
REGRETTABLY. few written records haaeve survived to throw light on Manx Life and Customs during the Middle Ages. Therefore the collection of extracts from certain Sheading Court Rolls of the early fifteenth century, printed below, is perhaps one of the most important of all the two hundred and thirty documents which have been published in the Journal.
The oldest document preserved in the Rolls Office is the well-known indenture of 1417 containing a list of the Twenty-four Keys, the names of several of whom reappear in the text now published.
The whereabouts of the original Sheading Court Rolls of the same year is not known at present. Fortunately extensive extracts were copied from the missing records about 1725 by John Quayle (of the Bridge House Family), then Clerk of the Rolls, in the course of a great collection of precedents which he assembled from the records existing at that time.
...
25
Goods seized on for being carry’d off without Lycense
An inquisition was taken upon the oaths of Donald Wauterson and others who declare that Bryan Wauterson contrary to the orders of the Lord went from the island of Man ; he owns a cow, an ox, etc., with McEngelsey, and a cow, etc., with Andrew Wright and 4 heifers with William Gilbred, tenant of the Abbot of Rushen, &c. which goods are seized.
...
The modern Equivalent of Names still in use.
(supplied by Mr. D. Craine, MA.)
...
Wauterson ( ‘ son of Walter ‘ ) : Watterson.
End.
The the Isle of Man governmental records are the main source of documents referencing various surname.
http://www.tynwald.org.im/keys/1417-chronological.shtml
Chronological list of Members from 1417
The following list of members of the House of Keys has been taken from that prepared by H.M. Attorney General for the Isle of Man (Mr R. B. Moore) and presented to the Speaker of the House (Speaker Clucas) in 1933. Since then it has been kept up to date and serves as an unofficial Roll of Members of the House.
Our records do not go back beyond 1417, although it is obvious from the Customary Laws Act 1417, which contains an account of Tynwald prepared for the guidance of the King of Mann, that the Keys is of much earlier origin.
Written records exist from 1417 and the Roll of Members is compiled from (1) the Acts of Tynwald from 1417; (2) the Liber Scaccari from 1585; and (3) the Liber Juratorum from 1775.
Those from the first source are unfortunately incomplete; many members of the House of Keys did not sign any Act of Tynwald. However, it is thought that from the beginning of the Liber Scaccari in 1585 the list is complete.
...
List of members:
Watterson Patrick 1507
Watterson Henry 1644, 1656
Watterson Thomas 1656
Watterson Henry John 1867, 1891
Watterson Henry John 1880 - 1891
Watterson Roger Lee 1976 - 1981
Watterson Juan Paul 2006 -
end
One earlier documented record.
A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames -1901
Charles W. Bardsley, MA
Hundred Rolls Yorkshire pg 796 Johannes Wauterson 1379
end
Celtic Surnames
"For the Tongue of the Gael" by Tomas O Flannghaile, 1896
http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/CelticSurnames/CelticSurnames4.php
...
Many Norman families assumed the Mac having given up the style and title of Norman barons and adopted those of Irish chiefs. Hence we have MacWilliam, MacHenry, MacWalter—which in the Isle of Man became shortened to Qualter and Qualters
End