Surname Pentecost - Meaning and Origin
all surnames with 'P'
Pentecost: What does the surname Pentecost mean?
The surname Pentecost is of religious origin, derived from the Christian holiday of Pentecost that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles of Christ, as described in the New Testament of the Bible. It comes from the Greek word 'Pentēkostē' which means 'fiftieth', as it is celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday.
As a surname, Pentecost could have been adopted by someone who was born on or baptized on this day, or by someone who played a significant role in the celebrations of this festival. Surnames were often used during the Middle Ages as identifiers and may have been linked to a wide variety of personal characteristics, occupations, and events. Hence, it’s possible that the Pentecost surname was initially given to someone associated with the Pentecost festival.
The name is known to be popular in English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom and the United States. It is important to note that the meaning of a surname is not definitive and can change based on geographical locations and cultural interpretations.
Order DNA origin analysisPentecost: Where does the name Pentecost come from?
The last name Pentecost is most common in England, where it has been the name of a small village since ancient times. It is also found in america and Australia, as many Pentecosts emigrated from England in the 19th century.
In England, Pentecost is primarily found in Cornwall and Devon, with limited incidence in other parts of the country. This makes sense as Pentecost is an old Cornish surname, with the earliest known use of the name occurring in a 12th century record of the Hundred of Pydar, Cornwall.
The United States is the second most common country of origin for the surname Pentecost. It is likely that the first Pentecosts to emigrate to the US were the family of William Pentecost, who appears in New York records as having been born in Devon in about 1841.
In Australia, the Pentecost name is found mainly in the states of Victoria and New South Wales, with a smaller incidence in Tasmania. This is probably because one of the earliest Pentecost immigrants in Australia was John Pentecost, who hails from Devon and arrived in Tasmania in the mid-1800s and then moved to Victoria.
In conclusion, the last name Pentecost is still relatively common today, and is most heavily concentrated in England, the US, and Australia. In the US and Australia, most Pentecosts are the descendants of immigrants from Devon in England.
Variations of the surname Pentecost
Pentecost is one of the many surnames of French and English origin. The variants and spellings of the same origin include Penticost, Pentecoste, Pentycost, Penthicost, Pentokost, and Pentikost. Variants of the surname are also known in other countries, particularly Germany and Portuguese speaking countries, as Pentekost and Pentikoste respectively.
The variants of the Pentecost surname have their roots in the old French and English language. In France, it probably derived from the French word pentecôte meaning Pentecost, which eventually morphed into Penticost or Pentycost as a surname. This variant arguably made its way to English-speaking countries in the 16th and 17th centuries as Penticost, Pentecoste or Penthicost.
In German-speaking countries, the surname variant Pentekost is believed to have emerged from the German word Pentekoste, which also refers to Pentecost. Similarly, Portuguese-speaking countries adopted the surname variant Pentikoste from the Portuguese word Pentecostes.
Overall, the surname Pentecost has various variants and spellings in different languages, many of which link back to the original French or English origins.
Famous people with the name Pentecost
- Billy Pentecost: American television producer, director, and friend of Ike Turner.
- Pearl Pentecost: American nurse and women's rights activist.
- Max Pentecost: Canadian professional baseball player.
- John Pentecost: American actor and producer.
- Grace Pentecost: American missionary who co-founded the nondenominational college Nowthen University in New York.
- Jo Pentecost: British cyclist and Olympic gold medalist in 1952.
- Kris Pentecost: Canadian singer-songwriter, actor, and model.
- Katie Pentecost: British conservationist and speaker.
- Sam Pentecost: English footballer who made his professional debut in 2014 for Stevenage FC.
- Karen Pentecost: American television producer and director best known for her work in the late 1980s and 1990s.