This interesting surname with variant spellings Paragreen, Pelerin, Pi(e)grome, Piggrem, Peggram, P(e)agram, Pilgrim etc., derives from the medieval English "pilegrim" or "pelgrim", (Old French "pelegrin"), a pilgrim, ultimately from the Latin "peregrinus", traveller, a derivative of "peregre", abroad, from the Latin "per agros" literally "through the fields", from "ager", field. The name was originally bestowed as a nickname on one who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome, or perhaps the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The surname first appears on record in the latter part of the 12th Century. Other early recordings include: William Pegerim or Pegrum, (Dorset, 1200); Eustace Pelrim, (Cambridgeshire, 1221); Robert Peregrine, (Somerset, 1243) and Robert Pelgrim, (Cambridgeshire, 1260). Occasionally used as a personal name Pelerin was recorded in the 1206 "Pipe Rolls of Sussex", and a Peregrinus Bernard in the 1272 "Hundred Rolls of Northamptonshire". The surname may in some cases derive from this use. On October 25th 1580, Jone Pilgrim married Thomas Maule, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo Pilegrim, which was dated 1185, in "The Knights Templars Records of Warwickshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.

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