Bapt 'the son of Peter,' from the French Pierre, diminutive Perrot or Parrot (little Peter). Par and Per are similarly found in Parkinson or Perkinson, Parkins or Perkins; v. Porrett. (2) Nick. 'the parrot, 'i.e. the chatterer. The origin is exactly the same, the application only being different. In France pierrot, i.e. little Peter, is still the name for a sparrow, as Robin with us for the redbreast. The first instance below will prove how early the diminutive of Peter gave name to the tropical bird we are familiar with, and how popular the name of Peter was; compare mag-pie, and v. Philipshank.

William le Perot, 1277. Writs of Parliament.

Ralph Perot, 1277. Writs of Parliament.

Simon Peret, 1290. Writs of Parliament.

Perot Gruer. Calendarium Rotulorum Originalium.

Thomas Perret. Rolls of Parliament.

Perrot Loppes: see Index, Wars of English in France, Henry VI.

John Porrett, or Perott, or Parott, or Parrett, 1520: Register of the University of Oxford.

Edward Parrett, or Perott, or Perrett, 1546: ibid.

Parrott is the commonest form in the United States.

V. Perrott, Parrott.

The genealogy of this family, as given by Burke, is among the choicest curiosities of its genus: and Banks very justly apprehends it to be “the fruit of a disordered mind.” It is taken from a pedigree drawn up c. 1650 by a Welsh herald named Owen Griffiths; and prefaced by the amazing assertion that it had been “collected from the British Annals, which will bear record of the truth, and that it is no fiction, to latest posterity.” - It is further dedicated “To the most Noble and Puissant Prince, Sir James Perrot, Marquess of Marbeth, Earl and Viscount Carew, and Baron Perrot:” - titles that never had any existence except in Owen’s own deluded brain; and commences with William de Perrott, who built “Castel Perrott” near a town of that name in Brittany, and came over to England a.d. 957. He obtained some lands in Somerset, where he gave his name to the river Parrott (now the Parret) and laid the foundations of North and South Perrot. He was “constrained to leave the infant city” and return home; but his grandson accompanied the Conqueror, having married the latter’s “nearest relative, Blanche, daughter of Ramiro, King of Arragon,” recovered the estate in Somersetshire, and completed the long-interrupted building. In the next generation, Sir Stephen had to wife “the celebrated Princess Ellyn, daughter of Howell Dha, King of Wales, the Lycurgus or law-giver of that land;” and their son Andrew, as “the descendant of a numerous race of kings, monarchs of Britain,” claimed the kingdom, but graciously consented to cede his rights to the King of England, on receiving a sum of money, and the grant of a tract of twenty miles of country. He married “Jonet, daughter of Ralph, Lord Mortimer by Gladdis Dee, daughter of Llewellyn:” and “Lord Mortimer’s mother was Maud, daughter of William the Conqueror.” As Ralph, Lord Mortimer, died in 1246, this princess, at the time of his birth, cannot possibly have been less than one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty years of age. His only daughter Isolda was twice married, but on neither occasion to Sir Andrew Perrott.

The etymologists declare that Perrott simply represents the French diminutive of Peter. “Prince Edward used to call the favourite, Piers Gaveston, by the familiar title of ‘Perot.’ Perot Gruer is mentioned in the Rolls of Parliament. Henry Perot in the Writs of Parliament.” - Bardsley’s English Surnames. See also Lower. “Peret forestarius”is written in Domesday as the name of a Hampshire baron, but apparently only the Christian name. No Perrots occur in the county history of Somerset, where I only find that the river Parret “was anciently called the Pedred.” - In Norfolk, Alan Pirot held six knights’ fees under William de Albini; and in 1165 Ralph Pirot (no doubt his son) was the tenant of Robert de Albini of Cainho. (Liber Niger). At the same date, a Ralph Pirot held two knights’ fees of the Bishop of Ely in Cambridgeshire, four of Geoffrey de Vere, and four of Henry Fitz Gerald in Essex. “If these knights’ fees, amounting in the aggregate to fifteen, were holden by one and the same person, they point him out as one of considerable estate and consequence.” - Banks. His descendant of the same name still held land in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire of the barony of Cainho in the time of Henry III; as well as Lindsell Hall in Essex; Sauston in Cambridgeshire; and two knights’ fees in Kent. One of his sons, Henry Perot, had the custody of the county of Kent 6 Ed. I: “to hold during the King’s pleasure:”and Henry’s nephew Ralph was among “the Barons made att the Parliament holden at Salesbury 25 Ed. 1.” But it does not appear that Ralph’s son and heir Simon, who succeeded him 33 Ed. I., ever was summoned to parliament; nor can I find any further notice of his posterity. A Reginald Perrot held Plateford and some other manors in Wiltshire in 1370.

This baronial house is never alluded to in the preposterous pedigree already quoted, which treats exclusively of the Welsh family of this name. It was seated at Iystington in Pembrokeshire, till Hester, daughter and heir of Sir Herbert Perrott of Haroldstone, brought the estates to her husband Sir John Pakington, of Westwood in Worcestershire, who died in 1727. Two junior branches remained; one in Brecknockshire; the other at Gellygare in Glamorganshire; and this latter only became extinct in 1779.

One of this Pembrokeshire house, Sir John Perrott, Lord Deputy of Ireland 1583-88, is supposed to have been an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. “If,” writes Sir Robert Maunton, in his Fragmenta Regalia, “we compare his picture, his qualities, gesture and voice, with those of the King, they will plead strongly” in favour of this suggestion. “His first appearance at Court was early in the reign of Ed. VI. He was arraigned of high treason at Westminster in 1592, and received sentence of death, but did not suffer, for he died five months after in the Tower. He left one son, Sir Thomas, who married Dorothy, sister to the favourite Earl of Essex, by whom he had one or more daughters.” - Nash’s Worcestershire. He had governed Ireland victoriously and successfully; and was “brought unawares to ruin,” says Camden, “by some envious persons, who were too powerful for him, together with the licentiousness of his own tongue, for he had thrown out some words against his Sovereign.” Leland includes in this family the celebrated William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord High Chancellor under Edward III., the priest “who was so much in favour with the King, that everything was done by him, and nothing was done without him.” He says in his Notes concerning William of Wickham: “William Perrot, alias Wikam, because he was born at Wikam in Hampshire. Some suppose that he was a Bastard, Perot the Parish-Clark’s Son of Wikam.” His biographers, I observe, do not accept this statement, but assert that “his patronymic, if such indeed he had, was Longe.” At all events, he was of humble origin.

May have been originally applied to a talkative person. So the classical Psittacus, from Ψιττακη. There is however equal probability of its having been derived from the river Parret, or from Pierrot, a French diminutive of Pierre, Peter. The surname has been varied to Parratt, Parrett, and Parritt.

A Norman name: From the Domesday Book, Peret

Perot: for Pierrot, Peterkin. Peret the Forester occurs in Domesday as a Hampshire Baron, but nothing can be concluded from this. Sir John Perrott, Deputy-Governor of Ireland, was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He got into trouble with Elizabeth, whom he treated with impertinence. The name still exists. It is that of the well-known family of guides to Dartmoor, living at Chagford.

The name of Parrott, probably a form of Perrett or Perrott, a common Somersetshire name, is better represented in Bucks, and is referred to also under that county. Robert Perrot, gent., of Oxford, who was buried in St. Peter's church in 1550, was a son of G. Perrot of Haverford - West, Pembrokeshire. Simon Parret, a proctor of Oxford University, died in 1584 (Wo.). There was a gentle family of Parratt in the parish of Enstone during the reign of Elizabeth (J.) The connection between the present Perretts and the Parrotts is referred to under Somersetshire.