Our German ancestor Feather was originally Vatter in Germany, then, at various times here was Fetter, Fether, and finally Feather. And I found drastic differences from one dictionary to another on sources and explanations of various surnames. According to The Clans of Scotland web page , Beattie was a sept of the MacBain clan. Sept means a group of people associated with or protected by a clan. Members of septs sometimes took the surname of the clan and sometimes had their own name.
Some sept names are common to more than one clan.
Visit the MacBean Web Page and Clan MacBean of North America Home Page . It extended to the north of Ireland, in a more limited degree to England, and has finally spread to all parts of the world to which these countries have sent out immigrants. The name is supposed to have been derived from the Latin, Beatus, which has also made Beaton. Such are some of the variations of a single common name, and by the spelling it may be generally known whether the family comes from Scotland, Ireland, or England. The name has also been known to be adopted by Ashkenazic Jews.