Pennefather Surname

487,899th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 680 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Australia
Highest density in:
New Zealand

Pennefather Surname Definition:

PENYFADYR: Johannes Penyfadyr, a charter witness at Yester, 1374 (Yester, p. 26). Defined of old as a niggard, a miser. 'The idea presumably was that the miser "fathered" or treasured every penny,' or as Congrave, the author of the famous French-English Dictionary says,

'The liberall doth spend his pelfe,

The pennyfather wastes himself.

Pennefather Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Australia1711:157,87016,525
South Africa1421:381,53334,124
Canada831:443,92338,562
United States711:5,105,055259,233
New Zealand681:66,59310,133
England551:1,013,05650,089
Singapore341:161,9916,884
Ireland291:162,3777,171
Pakistan111:16,240,35364,496
India61:127,844,230863,365
United Arab Emirates41:2,290,56860,372
Papua New Guinea11:8,153,717181,784
Netherlands11:16,887,176156,465
Spain11:46,752,036156,870
Mexico11:124,126,205103,776
Kenya11:46,179,900103,372
France11:66,422,722504,397
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland421:105,4736,604
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England341:716,92333,560
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States131:3,862,976168,604

Pennefather Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

PENYFADYR: Johannes Penyfadyr, a charter witness at Yester, 1374 (Yester, p. 26). Defined of old as a niggard, a miser. 'The idea presumably was that the miser "fathered" or treasured every penny,' or as Congrave, the author of the famous French-English Dictionary says,

'The liberall doth spend his pelfe,

The pennyfather wastes himself.'

The Surnames of Scotland (1946) by George Fraser Black (1866-1948)

V. Pennifather.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

A pound or pen for sheep and cattle, sometimes called a pin-fold or pound-fold-a manorial prison for trespassing animals. Atte Punfald. H.R.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

A term of reproach applied to a miser or penurious person. Nash speaks of —

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

(U.S. Penefather.) These names may be from the W. penffetter, headstrong, stubborn, obstinate. Hearne however derives the name of a street called Penny-farthing Street from a wealthy family whose name of Penyvadir or Penyfadir he had met with in old registers; and, if so, these names may be derived from locality; perhaps from W. pen-y-ffed-tir, the head of the outward land; or pen-y-mad-dir, the head of the good land. Lower says the forms of the name Pennyfather in H.R. are Penifader and Penifadir. He gives also a Barnfather and a Bairnsfather, which however he derives from a different source. There is the U.S. name Pennymaker.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

(English), Penny-father, or penurious person.

Surnames (1857) by Bernard Homer Dixon

Penfold or Pennifold is an old Sussex name. Stephen Penfold was twice mayor of Chichester in the reign of Charles II. (H. C.), and the name is still in the town; at that time the Penfolds held large estates in the parish of Angmering (D.): Hugh Penfold owned the Cissbury estate, Findon, in 1794 (L. S.).

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

Pennefather Last Name Facts

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

The last name Pennefather is found most frequently in Australia. It may be rendered as a variant:. For other possible spellings of this name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Pennefather? popularity and diffusion

The surname is the 487,899th most commonly occurring last name worldwide. It is borne by around 1 in 10,716,979 people. The last name occurs predominantly in Oceania, where 35 percent of Pennefather reside; 35 percent reside in Australasia and 35 percent reside in Australia and New Zealand.

The last name is most common in Australia, where it is carried by 171 people, or 1 in 157,870. In Australia Pennefather is most common in: New South Wales, where 46 percent are found, Western Australia, where 17 percent are found and Victoria, where 16 percent are found. Barring Australia Pennefather exists in 16 countries. It is also found in South Africa, where 21 percent are found and Canada, where 12 percent are found.

Pennefather Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Pennefather has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people who held the Pennefather last name increased 546 percent between 1880 and 2014; in England it increased 162 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in Ireland it decreased 31 percent between 1901 and 2014.

Pennefather Last Name Statistics demography

The religious adherence of those bearing the Pennefather last name is predominantly Anglican (81%) in Ireland.

In The United States Pennefather are 9.27% more likely to be registered Democrats than The US average, with 62.5% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Pennefather earn in different countries varies greatly. In South Africa they earn 13.15% less than the national average, earning R 206,400 per year; in United States they earn 62.42% more than the national average, earning $70,084 USD per year and in Canada they earn 13.73% more than the national average, earning $56,503 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Pennefeather9629/
Penneyfeather921/
Penniefeather920/
Pennyfather9189/
Pennafather914/
Pennifather910/
Pennefether910/
Pennyfeather87255/
Pinnefeather870/
Pinnafether730/

Search for Another Surname

Pennefather Reference & Research

Penfold One-name Study - A profile of the Penfold surname with contact details for a researcher who collects any information pertaining to it.

Pennyfather FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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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 Pennefather
  • 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