Peregrine (name)

Peregrine, from the Latin Peregrinus is a given name and a surname. Other forms include Peregrino, Perregrine and Peregrin.

The word peregrine originally meant "foreign", from the Latin peregrinus. The term broadened to mean "wandering" or "travelling" from the habits of young peregrine falcons (falco peregrinus, meaning "pilgrim falcon" in Medieval Latin), which would travel long distances to find a suitable nesting place in a high place.[1] The peregrine falcon was first named thus by English ornithologist Marmaduke Tunstall in 1771.[2]

Peregrinus was the name of some early saints.[3] The word passed into Old French as pelegrin (meaning "pilgrim"), which may also have been used in Middle English as a variant of pilgrim. Some French Huguenots who had moved to England by the 18th century bore the surname "Pelegrin".[4]

The first records of the surname Peregrine in England are from Norfolk in the 13th century, where these Norman descendants held vast estates.[2]

In the United States, Peregrine was the name chosen for the first English child born on Mayflower when it arrived in Provincetown.[5] The name is not a common one these days.[3]

People with the name Peregrine or Peregrinus include:

Single name

Given name

Peregrine

Peregrinus

Surname

Fictional characters

Single names

Given names

Surnames

  • Miss Peregrine, a character in the 2011 novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and in the 2016 film adaptation
  • Peregrine family, characters in the 1989 and 1991 novels by Jude Deveraux
  • Sir Walter Peregrine, a character in the 1637 play The Example by James Shirley

See also

References

  1. ^ "Definition of PEREGRINE". Merriam-Webster. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Peregrine Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". HouseOfNames. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b Campbell, Mike (28 February 2019). "Meaning, origin and history of the name Peregrine". Behind the Name. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Peregrine Name Meaning & Peregrine". Ancestry. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Peregrine". Nameberry. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.