Petite History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
England

From the historical and enchanting region of France emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Petite family. Originally, the French people were known only by a single name. The process by which hereditary surnames were adopted in France is extremely interesting. Surnames evolved during the Middle Ages when people began to assume an extra name to avoid confusion and to further identify themselves. Often they adopted names that were derived from nicknames. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes of the first person that used the name. The name Petite is a nickname type of surname for a person of small stature, having derived from the Old French word "petit," meaning, "small" or "little". 1

Early Origins of the Petite family

The surname Petite was first found in Burgundy (French: Bourgogne), an administrative and historical region of east-central France where this distinguished family held a family seat at Bressey, where Antoine Petit was a knight of arms in the year 1353. They were also seated at Lavaux. They were strongly associated with the region of Champagne on the northern border of Bourgogne in eastern France. The first record in Bourgogne is at the seigneurie of Villiers-Sur-Suize where they held a family seat several centuries before the 15th century. In the 15th century Guyot Petit was Lord of the manor of Chaumont and a Lieutenant in the government of Nogent. This main stem of the family eventually emerged as the Barons Mathault.

It should be mentioned at this point that due to the Norman Conquest, some of the family emigrated to England, but not all.The source Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae lists "Ralph, William, Bernard, Herbert Parvus or le Petit, Normandy 1180-95" 1 which means that the name concurrently developed in England and Normandy at the same time.

Early History of the Petite family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Petite research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1360, 1411, 1550, 1598, 1617, 1665, 1674, 1677, 1685, 1687, 1688, 1720 and 1750 are included under the topic Early Petite History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Petite Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Pettit, Petit, Petite, Petites, Pettitt, Petitt, Pessit, Du Pettit, Du Petitt, Du Petit, Le Petitt, Le Pettit and many more.

Early Notables of the Petite family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Jean Petit (Jehan Petit, John Parvus) (c. 1360-1411), a French theologian and professor in the University of Paris, is known for his public defense of a political killing as tyrannicide; Pierre Petit (1598-1677), French mathematician; and Pierre Petit (1617-1687)...
Another 46 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Petite Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Petite migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Petite Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Catherine Petite, who arrived in Maryland in 1645 2
Katheren Petite, who landed in Maryland in 1645 2
Thomas Petite, who arrived in Maryland in 1645 2

Petite migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 3

Petite Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Mr. Bastian Petite, aged 23 who arrived in St. Kitts (St Christopher) aboard the ship "Amity" in 1635 2

Citations +

The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies