ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1356 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1356 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 19 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked about the origin of your surname, . As you had read, it is indeed a diminutive of , which is a nickname from Old French 'a page'. The original form of the diminutive suffix was <-et>, as in our earliest examples of the name: 1327, 1359, 1379. (These are from Sussex, Essex, and Yorkshire, respectively.) [1, 2] We have examples of the plain form from considerably earlier, e.g., 1230 and 1240, so it's a little curious that apparently isn't found until the early 14th century. [1] One early authority thought on this basis that it was a 14th century import from France. [2] remained the more common name: in English parish registers from 1601 it is found in Hertfordshire, Lancashire, London, Leicestershire, Suffolk, and Yorkshire, while is mentioned in just one parish in Lincolnshire. [3] Doubtless both names were more widespread; these are just the parishes in which people bearing those names happened to marry, give birth, or die during 1601. Indeed, a Paget family in Staffordshire achieved some notability in the 16th century: Sir William Paget, K.G., the son of a sergeant-at-mace to the city of London, was one of the executors to the will of Henry VIII and was summoned to Parliament in 1550 as Baron Paget (of Beaudesert, Staffordshire). [4] Although they don't bear directly on your name, you might be interested to know that there were at least two other English bynames expressing the same idea: ( 1314) and ( 1579). [1] (Though not in record until very late, the latter probably does go back to a medieval byname.) I hope that this information is useful; if you have any further questions that we might be able to answer, please don't hesitate to write again. For the Academy, Brian M. Scott ===== References: [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995); s.nn. Paget, Page, Littlepage, Smallpage. [2] Bardsley, Charles W. A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980); s.n. Paget. [3] Hitching, F.K. & S. Hitching. References to English Surnames in 1601 (Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau, 1910); p. liii. [4] Foster, Joseph. The Peerage Baronetage and Knightage of the British Empire For 1880 (Westminster: Nichols and Sons, 1880); p. 17.