How many different spellings are there?
During the nineteenth century the spelling of the name eventually settled down into one of three main variants: WINDEAT(T ) or WINGET(T) or WINGATE. But in earlier times, most people were illiterate and not in a position to quibble about how their name was spelled. Often the person writing the name was only semi-literate himself. And even those who were literate were not too bothered about spelling and it is quite common to find the same person spelling his or her name differently on several occasions. And WINDGEAT seems to have been a difficult name to spell! There are numerous variants of the name. It probably has the most varied spelling of any Devon surname with the exception of NANKIVEL (4). I have found 96 variants in the IGI, census CDs, PRO Records and other sources: WENGET, WHINGHEAT, WINDATT, WINDEAT, WINDEATE, WINDEATH, WINDEATT, WINDED, WINDEDD, WINDET, WINDETT, WINDEYAT, WINDEYATE, WINDEYEATE, WINDGAT, WINDGATE, WINDGEATT, WINDGED, WINDGETT, WINDIAT, WINDIATE, WINDIATT, WI
