Frequency: (14127)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: from a vernacular short form of the Latin personal name Paschalis (see Pascal, Italian Pasquale).
2. nickname for a mild-mannered and peaceable person, from Middle English pace, pece ‘peace’, ‘concord’, ‘amity’ (via Anglo-Norman French from Latin pax, genitive pacis).
3. Italian: from the medieval personal name Pace, used for both men and women, from the word pace ‘peace’ (see 1).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
