13,744 Global Pilgrim Family Members

Pilgrim Family History

Family spelling variants include Pegram, Peggram, Pegrum, Pigram, Peagram, Pagram, Peregrine, Paragreen, Pigrome, Piegrome, Pilgram, Pilgreen, Pelerin.

 

There are approximately 13,744 Pilgrim family members around the world. In general you can double this figure to include those related to the Pilgrim names to allow for those connected to the name through maiden name connections.

 

It is estimated that the largest group of Pilgrim family members live USA with 7,261 (52.8%) members, England with 2,834 (20.6%), Canada with 1,746 (12.7%), Australia with 1,344 (9.8%), New Zealand with 189 (1.4%), South Africa with 146 (1.1%), Scotland with 118 (0.9%) and Wales with 79 (0.6%) members.

 

It originates from the Old French word "pelegrin", meaning a pilgrim, and ultimately from the Roman "peregrinus", meaning literally "a traveller through the fields". The name was originally bestowed as a nickname on a person who had made a serious pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome, or perhaps the tomb of St. Thomas Beckett at Canterbury. 

 

An English nickname and relationship name from Middle English pil(e)grim, ‘traveller to a holy place’ (Old French pilegrin, pelerin and variants of Latin peregrinus ‘foreigner, traveller’).

 

Early bearers of the surname include: Hugo peregrinus, Hago [sic] le pelerin 1189–98, Medieval East Anglia (Norfolk); Hugo Pilegrim, 1185 in Templars Records (Warwicks); William Pegerim, Pegrum, 1200 in Curia Regis Rolls (Dorset); Robert Peregrine, 1243 in Assize Rolls (Somerset); William Pylegrim, 1251 in Ramsey Cartulary (Hunts); Robert Pelrin, Pelgrim, 1260 in Assize Rolls (Cambs); William Pegrin, 1275 in Hundred Rolls (Cambs); Symon Pegrym, 1327 in Subsidy Rolls (Suffolk); Henry le Pelegrym, 1348 in Patent Rolls (Swineshead, Hunts); Johannes Pilgrym, 1377 in Poll Tax (Great Clacton and Little Clacton, Essex); Johannes Pillegryme, 1381 in Poll Tax (Frinton, Essex); Robert Pilgrame, 1577 in PROB 11 (City of London); Marie Pigrome, 1599 in PROB 11 (Bocking, Essex); Matthew Peregrine, 1636 in IGI (Saint Matthew Friday Street, London).

 

In 1891 census, the surname was recorded in England and Wales with 1,653 occurrences. 

 

In 1881 census, the surname was frequent in Middlesex, Essex, and Surrey. Essex was reported as a top county for the surname with 281 occurrences. 

 

In 1881, the most common Pilgrim occupation in the UK was Agricultural Labourer. Agricultural Labourer, Carpenter and Farmer were the top 3 reported jobs worked by the surname. a less common occupation was Labourer.

 

1881, 1891 Census

1881 Census in Essex

Dictionary of American Family Homes, P Hanks OUP 2003

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain, H.B. Guppy, London 1890

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, P.Hanks, Coats, McClure OUP 2016

1860 Lower, Mark A Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, London: J.R Smith. Public Domain

1857 Arthur, William An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain

J.M.P