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.
Early Origins of the Pakenham family
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
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8) and literally meant "homestead or village of a man called Pacca," from the Old English
personal name + "ham."
[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Early History of the Pakenham family
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 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.
Early Notables of the Pakenham family (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.
Migration of the Pakenham family to 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.
Migration of the Pakenham family to the New World and Oceana
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