Patchell
“P” is another letter with a lot of surnames, and a lot of surnames which have great first-name potential.
And so here’s the first batch of “p” surnames of Old English, Old Norse and Old/Anglo-French origin for your perusal:
- Pacey, Pacy — from Pacy-sur-Eure in Normandy, which derives from the Roman name Paccius, possibly ultimately from pax “peace” or
- Packard — a combination of “pack” with the suffix -ard, i.e. “a packer.”
- Packer — Middle English packere “a packer,” probably referring to a wool-packer.
- Padley — from one of the places of the name. Old English personal name Padda or *padde “toad” + lēah “wood,” “woodland clearing,” “glade,” “pasture” and “meadow.”
- Paget — diminutive of Old French page “a page.”
- Pallis — Old French paille “straw” + Old English hūs “house”; used of someone who stacked hay into ricks. Sometimes, it is also from the Old French palis “palisade,” referring to someone who lived by a palisade or fence.
- Palliser — Old French palis “palisade”; used of someone who made fences.
- Palmer — a bit of an interloper, as was in modest use in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Definitely ripe for a revival though, so I’m sneaking it through. Old French palmer “pilgrim,” from Latin palma “palm” — so named because pilgrims returning from Jerusalem carried palms.
- Panner — Old English panne “pan”; i.e. “one who makes pans.”
- Panton — from Panton, Lincolnshire: Old English panne “pan” (here probably referring to the shape) + tūn “enclosure,” “farmstead,” “estate,” “manor,” “village.”
- Pardew — Old French par Dieu “by god” or de par Dieu, ultimately from Latin de parte Dei “in God’s name” — a medieval oath; the original bearers probably used it a lot.
- Parfay — Old French par (ma) fei “by my faith” — another “oath name.” Parmafey is a medieval variant.
- Parham — from one of the places of the name. Old English peru “pears” + hām “homestead,” “village,” “estate,” “manor,” or hamm “enclosure,” “river-meadow.” Other variants include Parram and Perram.
- Parlby — Old French parle bien “speak well.” A nickname.
- Parmeter — Old French parmetier “tailor.”
- Parnell — from the medieval girl’s name Petronilla, a diminutive of the Roman family name Petronius. Hugely popular in medieval times, Parnell and other medieval variants did survive in genuine first-name use in some parts of the British Isles, especially Cornwall, as late as the nineteenth century.
- Parrack, Parrick — Old English pearroc “paddock” and “enclosure.”
- Parrell, Parren — pet-forms of Perre, a medieval Anglo-French form of Peter.
- Parsloe, Parslow — Old French passelewe “cross the water,” possibly used of someone who had to cross a stream or river to reach their home, thus lived “across the water,” or a sailor.
- Pascall, Paskell — Anglo-French pascal “relating to Easter.” Pascal was a popular medieval name; it died out in Britain after the Reformation, but continued in use in France.
- Pascoe — an old variant of PASCALL, which actually survived as a first-name in Cornwall, just about to modern times.
- Pashen — from Passenham in Northamptonshire. Old English personal name Passa + hamm “enclosure,” “river-meadow.”
- Pashler — variant of PARSLOE.
- Pashley — another variant of PARSLOE.
- Paston — from one of the places of the name, especially Paston, Norfolk, associated with the famous family of medieval letter writers. Old English personal name *Pæcci or *paes(c) “muddy pool” + tūn “enclosure,” “farmstead,” “estate,” “manor,” “village.”
- Pasturel — Old French pastorel “little shepherd.”
- Patchell, Petchell — from the early Middle English girl’s name Pæcchild “peace-child.”
- Pate — Middle English pate “head” and “skull” — a nickname — or a pet-form of Patrick. Did make the US top 1000 once in 1901, when it was ranked 924th…
- Patney — from Patney, Wiltshire. Old English personal name *Peatta + ēg “island.”
- Paton, Patton — medieval pet-forms of Patrick.
- Patten — either Middle English paten “dog” or from patoner “a pattern-maker.”
- Paveley, Pawley — from Pavilly in Normandy. Probably from the Latin surname Pavillus “little peacock.”
- Paver, Pavyer — Old French paveur “layer of pavements.”
- Pavey — from the medieval girl’s name Pavia/Pavie, possibly from the Old French pavie “peach,” or Pavie “woman of Pavia” — the Italian city.
- Payle — Middle English payle “pail”; used of someone who made pails.
- Payler — from Middle English payle “pail”; i.e. a pail-maker.
- Paynter — Anglo-French peintour “painter.”
Nook of Names
