Percival
A surname of Norman-French origin, often explained as meaning “valley-piercer” or as a place-based name from Normandy.
The #9,767 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 93,080 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually traced through Old French forms such as Perceval / Percevalle and explained as having the sense of “valley-piercer,” from Old French percer “to pierce” plus val “valley,” though this is not entirely secure. Some 19th-century writers instead treated it as a place-name, connecting it with a locality in Normandy. The surname appears in several spellings, including Perceval, Percivall, and Percibal.
History
Lower recorded the name as associated with Normandy and said Camden classed it among baptismal names, while later writers linked it to a Norman family tradition and to Breton/Norman surname forms. In English usage, Percival is also familiar as a given name and literary name, which may have helped keep the surname visible. The historical evidence in the older sources is mixed, so both a nickname-style and a local-origin explanation have been proposed.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The name is famously associated with Sir Percival, one of King Arthur’s knights, which helped make it feel chivalric in later English tradition.
From the historical record
“PERCEVAL ] (A.-Fr.-Lat.) the Frejich Perce- PERCIVAL \va.l = lit. ValUey-Piercer, PERCIVALLJ evid. a nickname for a stal- wart X^x.perce, 3rd pers. pres. sing, indie. oipercer, O.Tr. percier, to pierce, penetrate ; prob. f. Lat. pertusus, pp. iof pertundere, to pierce + Fr. vol, Lat. vall-is, a valley] This name is…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)