Perry is a surname with several distinct origins. In
England, deriving from the Old English pyrige (pear tree), referring to one who dwells by a pear tree,[1] while in
Wales Perry, along with Parry, arose as
patronymics, via a shortening of "ap Harry" (son of Harry). There are some variants in the
Romance languages (derived from Latin):[clarification needed]Pereira, Pereyra, Pereyro, Pereiro, Pereiros, Pereire, Perera, Perer, Perero, Pereros;[2] the Norman French perrieur (quarry), possibly referring to a quarryman.[2] Perry was recorded as a surname from the late 16th century in villages near
Colchester,
Essex, East England, such as Lexden and Copford.[3] Perry has some resemblance with the Portuguese common surname
Pereira, which means
pear tree in the
Portuguese language. Because of that, many
Portuguese immigrants to the USA (especially
Massachusetts and the
San Francisco Bay Area) chose to "
Americanize" their
Pereira surname to Perry. The Italian surname, Perri, related to "Peter", is also often Americanized to Perry.
As of 2014, 67.0% of all known bearers of the surname Perry were residents of the United States. The frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following U.S. states:
This page lists people with the
surnamePerry. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.
Perry is a surname with several distinct origins. In
England, deriving from the Old English pyrige (pear tree), referring to one who dwells by a pear tree,[1] while in
Wales Perry, along with Parry, arose as
patronymics, via a shortening of "ap Harry" (son of Harry). There are some variants in the
Romance languages (derived from Latin):[clarification needed]Pereira, Pereyra, Pereyro, Pereiro, Pereiros, Pereire, Perera, Perer, Perero, Pereros;[2] the Norman French perrieur (quarry), possibly referring to a quarryman.[2] Perry was recorded as a surname from the late 16th century in villages near
Colchester,
Essex, East England, such as Lexden and Copford.[3] Perry has some resemblance with the Portuguese common surname
Pereira, which means
pear tree in the
Portuguese language. Because of that, many
Portuguese immigrants to the USA (especially
Massachusetts and the
San Francisco Bay Area) chose to "
Americanize" their
Pereira surname to Perry. The Italian surname, Perri, related to "Peter", is also often Americanized to Perry.
As of 2014, 67.0% of all known bearers of the surname Perry were residents of the United States. The frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following U.S. states:
This page lists people with the
surnamePerry. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.