Pearsall
An English surname from a Staffordshire place-name, originally meaning someone who came from Pershall/Pearshall.
The #6,877 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,164 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Pearsall is a locational surname from Pershall, formerly written Pearshall, in Staffordshire. The name was used for people who came from that estate or settlement. Older writers connected the place with a Norman-founded family at the site, but the surname itself is best understood as a place-name surname rather than a word meaning "pear".
History
Lower’s 19th-century account says the family was established at the Staffordshire estate in the early Norman period, and later surname dictionaries repeat Pearsall as a local name from Pershall. The surname appears in several spelling forms, including Pearsall, Pearsaul, Persall, and Piersol, especially in English and later American records. It is now relatively uncommon, though still found in the United States and Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Despite its spelling, Pearsall is not usually related to pears; it comes from a place-name in Staffordshire.
From the historical record
“PEARS. PEARSE. See Peter. PEARSALL. An estate in co. StalTord, now written Pearshall or Pershall. The family are of Norman origin, having been founded, at the place referred to, by Robert, a follower of Robert of Stafford, early in the reign of the Conqueror. He was son of Gilbert, son of Richard, Count of Corbeil…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom