Gates surname meaning

Gates is an English topographic surname for someone who lived by a gate, gap, or entrance, especially a town or estate gate. It may also be habitational from a place identified by such an opening. The plural ending is an established surname form and does not necessarily refer to several gates or a family relationship. Gate, Yates, and Yeates can appear in related-looking records, although Yates has its own history from yate, “gate.” The catalog uses place with high confidence because the landscape and settlement explanations agree, while the specific gate or locality remains dependent on a family’s regional records.