Pratt surname meaning

Pratt is an English nickname surname from Middle English prat or pratte, a word associated with a clever, cunning, or trickster-like person. Medieval bynames often used a perceived habit or character trait to distinguish neighbors, and this one need not mean that a later bearer was dishonest. Prat and Pratte are historical spellings, while Pratt became the standard form in many records. The surname could arise independently wherever the byname was understood, so it does not identify one original Pratt family. Nickname is the secure catalog type, with high confidence in the medieval descriptive source.