This interesting surname derives from the medieval given name "Pack", a survival of the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Pacca", which is only found as a placename element and appears to have died out fairly early on in the Old English period. The medieval given name may also have derived from the Middle English "paske", Old French "pasque" meaning Easter, and would have originated as a nickname for someone who was born at Easter, or had some other particular connection with that time of year, such as owing a feudar obligation then. Payke (without surname) appears in the Assize Court Rolls of Cambridgeshire (1260). The surname is first recorded in the late 12th Century, (see below). One, Roger Pake, appears in the Pipe Rolls of Leicestershire (1195). In the modern idiom the surname has five variant spellings, Pack, Packe, Paik, Pakes and Patch. One of the earliest settlers in the New World was, Richard Packe, recorded as living in Virginia on february 16th 1623. On January 1st 1641, Thomas, son of William Packe, was christened at St. Andres by the Wardrobe, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Pac, which was dated 1190, The Kalendar of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, during the reign of King Richard 1, "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.