Parnell
A surname that began as a form of the medieval female name Petronilla and was later sometimes linked to an old term for a wanton woman.
The #2,475 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,205 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally taken as a medieval form of Petronilla, ultimately from Latin Petronilla, a feminine diminutive related to Peter. Older surname books often treat Parnell as a variant of Pernell or Pernel, a woman’s name. Some sources also note that the word could be used in a pejorative sense in older English, referring to an immodest or wanton woman, but that is a later social usage rather than the original personal name sense.
History
The surname appears in English records as a hereditary name and also in the patronymic form Fitz-Parnell, meaning “son of Parnell.” In older scholarship it is frequently grouped with female-name surnames, which were sometimes passed on from a mother or female ancestor. Variant spellings such as Pernell, Purnell, and Parnall reflect normal medieval and early modern spelling variation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Fitz-Parnell was once used as a surname in the sense “son of Parnell,” showing how a woman’s given name could become the basis of a family name.
From the historical record
“PARNALL. See Parnell. PARNELL. O.Eng. Pernel, for Petro- nilla, a female name. In old times the word was used to designate "a lascivious woman, a confident girl." Bailey. See Female Christian Names. PARS ALL. 1. The same as Parcel. 2. a corruption of Purcel!. PARSEY. A corruption of Percy. PARSLEY. A corruption of…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom