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Oliver Name Meaning
English (northern) southern Scottish southern French and German: from the Old French personal name Oliver (modern French Olivier). This became common largely through the influence of the immensely popular narrative poem Chanson de Roland in which the warrior Oliver is the wise best friend of the doomed hero Roland. The two men were peers at the court of Charlemagne and the name is probably of ancient Germanic origin. The name ostensibly means ‘olive tree’ (see Oliveira ) but this is almost certainly the result of folk etymology working on an unidentified ancient Germanic personal name perhaps a cognate of Alvaro . Old Norse Óláf (see Olliff ) and ancient Germanic Alfhari (composed of the elements alf ‘elf’ and hari ‘army’) have also been suggested as sources but both personal names are difficult to explain phonetically especially the latter. The Anglo-Norman name has been established in Ireland (Louth) since at least the 14th century and was reinforced in Ulster and Limerick by migrants from England in the 17th century. The surname is also borne by Jews apparently as an adoption of the non-Jewish surname. Catalan: generally a topographic name from oliver ‘olive tree’ but in some instances possibly related to a homonymous personal name (see 1 above).
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Olivero, Olive, Lier, Oliva, Olivera, Lever, Oliger, Oliviero, Plier

Paines Name Meaning
See Panes .
Panes Name Meaning
English (Somerset): variant of Payne with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s.
Payne Name Meaning
English: from the Middle English and Old French personal name Pai(e)n Pagen (from Latin Paganus) a fairly common personal name among Normans. It derived from a word that originally meant ‘villager rustic’ later ‘heathen’ but it had doubtless lost these connotations in its use as a late medieval personal name. This name has also been established in Ireland since the 14th century.
Source:
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, 2016
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Pane, Mayne, Bayne, Pyne, Layne, Hayne, Sayne, Kayne, Rayne, Paine
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Peakman Name Meaning
From Middle English pek ‘hill peak’ + man probably signifying ‘man of or from the peak’. The surname may be topographic for someone who lived at or by a peak or toponymic for someone from the Peak District in Derbys; compare Peak .
Peak Name Meaning
English: habitational name from any of several places in different parts of England named in Old English with pēac ‘hill knoll peak’ including Peak (Hill) in Sidmouth (Devon) East and West Peek in Luffincot (Devon) a minor locality in Chiddingly (Sussex) once called Peke (now Peke's House) and the Peak District an area of rugged hills in northwest Derbyshire and adjacent counties. English: possibly a nickname from the Middle English word in 1 above denoting a stout thick-set man. English: shortened form of Peacock . Possibly also Irish: shortened form of McPeak .
Source:
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, 2016
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Speakman, Eakman, Peckman, Pearman, Packman, Dearman, Speckman
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Pearson Name Meaning
English: patronymic from the Middle English personal name Per(e) or Piers (see Pear and Pierce ) + son. The surname is also quite common in Ireland where it has been established for many centuries. Compare Peerson . Americanized form of one or more similar (like-sounding) Jewish (Ashkenazic) surnames.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Parson, Person, Searson, Pierson, Pehrson, Peerson, Parsons, Merson
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Penrose Name Meaning
Cornish and Welsh: habitational name from any of the places called Penrose or Penrhos: twelve in Cornwall one in Devon several in Wales and one in Herefordshire near the Welsh border. The Cornwall and Devon placenames derive from Middle Cornish pen ros ‘hill's end’ (pen ‘head top end; promontory’ ros ‘promontory hill spur’). The Herefordshire and Wales placenames have the same meaning derived from the Welsh elements which correspond to Middle Cornish pen + ros.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Melrose, Pedrosa, Pembroke, Primrose, Pense, Perron, Penrod, Penne
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Petersen Name Meaning
Danish Norwegian Dutch and North German: patronymic from the personal name Peter . Americanized form of Norwegian and Danish Pedersen or Pettersen . English: variant of Peterson .
Peterson Name Meaning
English Scottish and German: patronymic from the personal name Peter . In North America this surname has absorbed various cognates and their derivatives from other languages e.g. Norwegian and Danish Pedersen and Pettersen and their Swedish cognates (see 2 below) Polish Piotrowicz Slovenian Petrič Petrovčič and Petrovič (see Petric Petrovic ). Americanized form (and a less common Swedish variant) of Swedish Petersson a cognate of 1 above and also of its variant Pettersson . Compare 1 above.
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Person, Peters, Peerson, Pierson, Petersen, Pearson, Petersohn
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Pickles Name Meaning
English (Yorkshire): variant of Pickle .
Pickle Name Meaning
English: habitational name probably from a minor locality in Thornton (Bradford Yorkshire) called in Middle English Pykedlee or Pighkeleys and composed of piked ‘pointed having a narrow corner’ and either ley(s) (Old English lēah) ‘clearing(s)’ or leys (Old English lǣs) ‘pasture meadowland’. Altered form of German Pickel .
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Nickles, Picken, Nickless, Rickles, Pickle, Pickrel, Wickes, Ickes
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Walbank Name Meaning
See Wallbank .
Wallbank Name Meaning
From a lost place called Wallbank in Darwen (Lancs) which is recorded as Walbonk in 1461 (Lancs Record Office). The origin of the place-name cannot be certain without a greater number of medieval forms though it may derive from Middle English walle ‘wall’ or welle walle ‘well spring stream’ + banke ‘bank slope’.
Source:
The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, 2016
Similar surnames:
Albany, Albano, Alban, Walbeck, Galban, Albani, Wiltbank, Wallack
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Pridmore Name Meaning
English (Rutland): altered form of Middle English Prudmay a nickname from prud ‘proud’ + mey ‘male relative’ or may ‘maiden virgin young woman’ (perhaps in jest or ironically of a man).
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Tidmore, Skidmore, Cudmore, Whitmore, Patmore, Predmore, Primo
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts

Pugh Name Meaning
Welsh: Anglicized form of the patronymic ap Hugh ‘son of Hugh’ (see Hughes ).
Hughes Name Meaning
English and Welsh: variant of Hugh with genitival or excrescent -s. Irish and Scottish: adopted as an equivalent of Gaelic surnames based on the personal name Aodh ‘fire’ for example Ó hAodha Mac Aodha; see McCoy and compare McHugh .
Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Similar surnames:
Bugh, Hugh, Pough, Paugh, Rush, Peugh, Puff, Rugg, Ruth, Ruge
From: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/learn/facts