Perrine
A French surname most likely formed as a diminutive of Pierre, meaning “little Peter.”
The #6,175 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,720 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Perrine is generally understood as a French diminutive of Pierre, the French form of Peter. In this line of development, the ultimate root is the Greek petros, meaning “stone” or “rock,” passed into Latin as Petrus and then into French as Pierre. The name therefore originally carried the sense of “little Pierre” or “son/descendant of Pierre,” rather than referring to stone directly in French use.
History
French surnames built on Pierre produced many related forms, including Perrin and Perrine. The name appears in historical surname dictionaries as part of this family of diminutive forms, and it later traveled beyond France through migration to other French-speaking or Francophone-influenced regions. In some records, Perrine may also appear as a given name or as a spelling variant influenced by local pronunciation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Despite looking like the English word “perrine” has something to do with pears or stones, historical onomastics links it instead to the very common name Pierre.
From the historical record
“V. aux noms Laperrière et Perrier. Les noms Perrin, Perrine, Perret^ Perret te , malgré leur analogie avec ceux qui viennent de nous occuper , ont une origine différente ; ils nous paraissent des diminutifs du nom Pierre,”
— Noms de famille normands