Palfrey Surname

132,420th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 3,409 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
Wales

Palfrey Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the palfrey,' a saddle-horse for a lady's use. Middle English palfrei; Old French palefrei; v. Palfreyman.

'And to the paleis rode titer many a route Of lordes, upon stedes and palfreis.' Chaucer, Knight's Tale.

Read More About This Surname

Palfrey Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England1,9551:28,5003,850
United States5051:717,74056,514
Australia3461:78,0229,105
Wales2631:11,7661,307
Canada2061:178,86217,839
New Zealand491:92,41512,718
Scotland171:314,93014,413
Ecuador121:1,325,48716,904
South Africa101:5,417,770150,016
France91:7,380,302306,885
Hong Kong61:1,222,5805,222
Thailand51:14,127,669603,945
Netherlands51:3,377,435111,911
Guernsey41:16,1101,225
Mexico31:41,375,40271,397
China21:683,660,78330,601
Philippines21:50,619,112341,003
Germany21:40,252,730481,636
Ireland11:4,708,93929,543
Zimbabwe11:15,438,240133,260
Cyprus11:884,87613,055
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Singapore11:5,507,70347,049
Malaysia11:29,494,225409,885
Macau11:601,6301,582
Israel11:8,557,634182,558
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland211:210,9469,809
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England8921:27,3273,723
Wales631:24,8951,432
Scotland121:311,9359,798
Isle of Man11:54,2692,077
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States1271:395,42329,402

Palfrey (27) may also be a first name.

Palfrey Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the palfrey,' a saddle-horse for a lady's use. Middle English palfrei; Old French palefrei; v. Palfreyman.

'And to the paleis rode titer many a route Of lordes, upon stedes and palfreis.' Chaucer, Knight's Tale.

Thomas Palfrei, Lincolnshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Richard Palefray, Salop, ibid.

Gilbert Palfrey, Norfolk, ibid.

John Palefrey, Norfolk, ibid.

1667. Thomas Palfrey and Margaret Maxham: Marriage Lic (Faculty Office).

1668. Married — Richard Pallfrey and Mary Halton: St. James, Clerkenwell.

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

(Anglo-French-Latin, etc.) a nickname from the saddle-horse so called [Middle English palefrai, palfrei, Old French palefrei (mod. French palefroi); Low Latin paraveredus, an extra post-horse]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

1. A riding horse. Palefray Palfrei, Palfrey, &c. H.R. 2. Mr. Ferguson thinks it may be a baptismal name, derived from the old German Baldfred, which is found so early as the VII. century.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

From the name Baldfrid, which Junius renders "audax pace," but which signifies rather a "bold protector" (bald-frid). There is an inverse, Fridebald.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

Richard, Roger Palfrei or Palefridus, Normandy 1180-95. It occurs in the early records of England.

The Norman People (1874)

Palfrey was a common Exmouth name in the 17th century (Webb).

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (1890) by Henry Brougham Guppy

Palfrey Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Palfrey Come From? nationality or country of origin

Palfrey is held by more people in England than any other country/territory. It can also be found as:. For other potential spellings of Palfrey click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Palfrey? popularity and diffusion

The surname Palfrey is the 132,420th most numerous last name worldwide. It is borne by approximately 1 in 2,137,737 people. This last name occurs predominantly in Europe, where 66 percent of Palfrey reside; 66 percent reside in Northern Europe and 66 percent reside in British Isles. Palfrey is also the 2,036,353rd most commonly occurring first name at a global level, held by 27 people.

This surname is most frequent in England, where it is carried by 1,955 people, or 1 in 28,500. In England it is most numerous in: Devon, where 19 percent are found, Suffolk, where 8 percent are found and Greater London, where 7 percent are found. Besides England this last name is found in 25 countries. It also occurs in The United States, where 15 percent are found and Australia, where 10 percent are found.

Palfrey Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of Palfrey has changed through the years. In England the share of the population with the surname increased 219 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it increased 398 percent between 1880 and 2014; in Wales it increased 417 percent between 1881 and 2014; in Scotland it increased 142 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it decreased 95 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Palfrey Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those bearing the last name is chiefly Anglican (90%) in Ireland.

In The United States those holding the Palfrey surname are 8.1% more likely to be registered with the Republican Party than the national average, with 54.87% registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Palfrey earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 54.34% less than the national average, earning R 108,504 per year; in United States they earn 3.97% less than the national average, earning $41,438 USD per year and in Canada they earn 3.56% less than the national average, earning $47,916 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Paulfrey9353/
Palfry922/
Palfray86493/
Palfroy86380/
Palfree8633/
Polfrey8614/
Palfred861/
Palfrei861/
Paulfry860/
Phelfrey801/
Phelfry710/
Polfray710/
Polfree710/
Pollfree671/
Phelphrey632/
Polfrit572/
Poulfrad531/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Palfrey
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis