Recorded as Pendre, Pendrey, Pendred, Pendrid, Pendrod, Pindred, Pindrid, and others, this unusual name is usually considered English, but is arguably of early medieval Welsh origin. It is claimed to be one of the patronymic forms of the male personal name "Henry", and if so is a fusing of the Welsh patronymic prefix "ap" meaning 'son of' and the same as the Scottish-Irish 'Mac' with "Henry" to create Penry, Pendre, Pendry and thence Pendred and the other variants. The given name Henry was introduced into England by the Norman-French after the famous Conquest of 1066 but in the spelling of 'Henri'. This is orignally derived from a Germanic personal name 'Hemiric' meaning 'home power'. It was a very popular name throughout Britain in the Middle Ages, not perhaps surprisingly given that eight kings were so named in four centuries. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving registers of the city of London include Mary Pendred who married Thomas Broomefield at St. Gregory's by St. Paul Cathedral, on the 2nd July 1581, Robert Pendrey who married Thomazzen Bassett at St Gregory by St Pauls, on November 28th 1596, Alice Pendre who was christened at St Mary Somerset, on November 9th 1606, whilst Robert Pendred was an early emigrant to the New World, leaving London on the ship "Peter Bonaventure", bound for the Barbadoes, in 1635. Other examples of the name spelling include Elisabeth Pendrede christened at at St. Martin's Ludgate, on May 27th 1554, Edmund Pendrid who married Elinor Wilcox atr St Mary's Putney on September 7th 1699.Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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