Pakenham Surname, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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Pakenham is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the parish of Pakenham found in the county of Suffolk. This place-name was a habitation name which denoted where the Pakenham family held their land. The original bearers of the Pakenham surname took their name from the parish where they dwelt, so that they could be identified whenever they moved from their original dwelling place.

Pakenham Early Origins

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The surname Pakenham was first found in Suffolk at Pakenham, a village that dates back to Saxon times when it was first listed as Pakenham c. 950. By the Domesday Book of 1086, the village was listed as Pachenham and literally meant "homestead or village of a man called Pacca," from the Old English personal name + "ham."

Pakenham Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Pakenham family name include Pakenham, Packenham, Pagenam and others.

Pakenham Early History

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Pakenham research. Another 113 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1794, 1713, 1776, 1743, 1792, 1774, 1835, 1785, 1794, 1774, 1835, 1817, 1860 and 1933 are included under the topic Early Pakenham History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pakenham Early Notables (pre 1700)

Another 28 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Pakenham Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pakenham In Ireland

Some of the Pakenham family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. Another 183 words (13 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

The Great Migration

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Pakenham surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Pakenham Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

George Pakenham, who settled in Virginia in 1643

Contemporary Notables of the name Pakenham (post 1700)

Sir Thomas Thomas Pakenham GCB (1757-1836), British naval officer and politician
Colonel Hercules Arthur Pakenham (1863-1937), unionist politician in Northern Ireland
Elizabeth Pakenham CBE (1906-2002), Countess of Longford, better known as Elizabeth Longford, a British author
Sir Richard Richard Pakenham (1797-1868), British diplomat
Admiral Sir William Christopher Pakenham KCB, KCMG, KCVO (1861-1933), British observer with the Japanese Fleet
Thomas Francis Dermot Pakenham (b. 1933), 8th Earl of Longford, known simply as Thomas Pakenham, is an Irish historian
Sir Edward Michael Pakenham, British general who was killed at the Battle of New Orleans

Pakenham Family Crest Products

Citations

^ Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
^ Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)

Other References

Innes, Thomas and Learney. The Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland 1st Edition. Edinburgh: W & A. K. Johnston Limited, 1938. Print.
Crozier, William Armstrong Edition. Crozier's General Armory A Registry of American Families Entitled to Coat Armor. New York: Fox, Duffield, 1904. Print.
Mills, A.D. Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4).
Magnusson, Magnus. Chambers Biographical Dictionary 5th edition. Edinburgh: W & R Chambers, 1990. Print.
Zieber, Eugene. Heraldry in America. Philadelphia: Genealogical Publishing Co. Print.
Weis, Frederick Lewis, Walter Lee Sheppard and David Faris. Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1650 7th Edition. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0806313676).
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds. Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8).
Chadwick, Nora Kershaw and J.X.W.P Corcoran. The Celts. London: Penguin, 1790. Print. (ISBN 0140212116).
Lennard, Reginald. Rural England 1086-1135 A Study of Social and Agrarian Conditions. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959. Print.
Browning, Charles H. Americans of Royal Descent. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing. Print.
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The Pakenham Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Pakenham Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.

This page was last modified on 25 June 2014 at 13:58.