The surnames Chajes (Ashkenazic Hebrew), Chayes, Hayyot, Hayyut, and Hiyyut are written in Hebrew characters as Hebrew: חיות.[citation needed] The family name originated in the Jewish community of sixteenth-century Prague, one of many such matronymic names adopted by the community in the period.[1] It means "Chaya's [child/children]." The use of the Hebrew, rather than a Yiddish spelling, thus produced a double entendre seemingly intended to suggest "vitality".
Hebrew: חיוֹת means animals; Hebrew: חיוּת means vitality.