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Ponte History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Ponte History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Italy
Spain
Scotland

The name Ponte reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Ponte family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Ponte family lived in Hampshire. Their name, however, derives from the Old English pond, meaning enclosed expanse of water, and indicates that the original bearer lived near such a landmark.

Early Origins of the Ponte family

The surname Ponte was first found in Hampshire where they held a family seat from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Ponte family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ponte research. Another 106 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1180, 1214, 1560, 1565, 1585, 1602, 1609, 1614 and 1623 are included under the topic Early Ponte History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ponte Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Pond, Pont, Ponde, Ponte and others.

Early Notables of the Ponte family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Timothy Pont (c. 1565-1614), Scottish mapmaker - the first man to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Edward Pond (fl. 1623) was an almanac-maker from Essex. Timothy Pont (c. 1560-1614), was a...
Another 39 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ponte Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ponte Ranking

In the United States, the name Ponte is the 12,978^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1

Ponte migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Ponte name or one of its variants:

Ponte Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Petronila Ponte, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1811 2
Maria Joseia Ponte, who arrived in Puerto Rico in 1821-1831 2
I P Ponte, aged 40, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1824 2
Pedro Ponte, aged 40, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1825 2
Louis Ponte, who arrived in America in 1825
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Ponte migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Ponte Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Guiseppe Ponte, age 47, who arrived in New York on Jan. 23, 1885, aboard the "Canada"

Ponte 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

Ponte Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Antonio Ponte, who arrived in Dominican Republic in 1835 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Ponte (post 1700) +

Laura Ponte y Martínez (b. 1973), Spanish model from Vigo, daughter of José Manuel Ponte Mittelbrunn (born 1942)
Moshe Ponte (b. 1956), Israeli former Olympic silver medalist judoka, President of the Israel Judo Association
Gabriele "Gabry" Ponte (b. 1973), Italian DJ, remixer, record producer, and radio personality from Turin, Italy
Marcos Cesar Ponte (b. 1963), Brazilian Air Force pilot
Dulce José Silva Ponte (b. 1969), Portuguese songwriter and singer
Raimondo Ponte (b. 1955), former Swiss-Italian footballer
Robson Ponte (b. 1976), Brazilian football player
Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838), Italian Venetian librettist and poet, born Emanuele Conegliano, who later moved to New York
Carla Del Ponte (b. 1947), Swiss lawyer, who was a Chief Prosecutor at two United Nations international criminal law tribunals and Swiss attorney general

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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