Pegram
Likely a surname from the pilgrim name Peregrine, with the initial sounds worn down over time.
The #7,907 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 73,774 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually explained as a reduced or altered form of Pilgrim/Peregrine, ultimately from Old French pelegrin and Latin peregrinus, meaning “foreigner” or “traveler.” In medieval naming, this could become a personal name for someone associated with pilgrimage, then pass into a hereditary surname. Some 19th-century writers also treated it as a variant in the same family as Pegram, Pigram, and similar forms.
History
Historical surname dictionaries place Pegram mainly in the same orbit as Peregrine-based surnames, and examples of spellings such as Pigram and Peggram support that connection. The name appears in English records from at least the medieval period, and later turns up in London and U.S. records. Because early surname evidence is sparse and spellings vary, the exact path from Peregrine to Pegram is not fully certain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The word behind the surname is the same Latin root as peregrine, the bird name—both originally referred to something “foreign” or “wandering.”
From the historical record
“■PEGLER, a gutturalized form of Pedler, q.v. PEGRAM 1 (A.-Fr..Lat.) Pilgrim [O.Fr.pele- PEG RU M J grin (Fr. pilerjn) ; Lat. peregrin-us, a stranger: the /has dropped from the surname through the lengthening of the e] WiUiam Pegnn.~Hund. Rolls. PEIL”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)