Perryman
A surname that usually means “Perry’s man” — a servant, dependent, or retainer of someone named Perry (a form of Peter).
The #3,748 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,696 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Perryman is best understood as a medieval English status-and-occupational surname meaning “the man of Perry,” that is, the servant or dependent of someone called Perry. In this context Perry is a pet or reduced form of Peter, ultimately from Old French Pierre and Latin Petrus. Some 19th-century writers also noted that the name could be mistaken for a pear-related surname, but the evidence here points chiefly to the personal-name origin rather than pears or perry.
History
The surname appears in medieval records and was later discussed by English surname scholars as a straightforward “X-man” formation, like Matthewman or Addyman. It survived as a relatively uncommon surname and was carried into later English-speaking populations, including the United States. The pear-tree interpretation was mentioned by some writers, but they explicitly rejected it for this name in favor of the Perry/Peter explanation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One of the source notes specifically warns that Perryman has nothing to do with the fruit pear, the tree, or the drink perry.
From the historical record
“PERRYER, V. Perrier. PERRYMAN i Perry's Man (-Servant) : v. Perry (A.-Fr.) Robertus Perysnian. — Yorks Poll-Tax, h.T>. 1379. 2 Pear-Tree Man (Dweller at the Pear-Tree(s) : v. Perry (Eng.) PERRYN = Perrin, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Perryman
- Steve Perryman (b. 1951)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.