Pierce
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Frequency: (49516)
(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, Welsh, and Irish: from the personal name Piers, the usual Norman vernacular form of Peter. In Wales this represents a patronymic ap Piers. In Ireland it represents a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Piarais ‘son of Piaras’, a Gaelicized form of Piers.
2. Americanized form of some similar-sounding Jewish surname.
FOREBEARS: Franklin Pierce (1804-69), 14th president of the United States, was born in Hillsborough, NH, on the New England frontier. His English ancestor Thomas Pierce emigrated to Charlestown, MA, in 1633/34.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
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Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
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