Look up another surname
The priest Surname

priest Name Meaning and History

English (mainly West Midlands): from Middle English pr(i)est ‘minister of the Church’ (Old English preost, from Latin presbyter, Greek presbyteros ‘elder’, ‘counselor’, comparative of presbys ‘old man’), used as a nickname, either for someone with a pious manner or possibly for someone who had played the part of a priest in a pageant. It may also have been an occupational name for someone in the service of a priest, and occasionally it may have been used to denote someone suspected of being the son of a priest.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Share this page with friends and family

14–Day Free Trial

Download the Getting Started guide
It's FREE with registration!

priest Family Facts

Are you a Facebook user? Add priest family facts to your Facebook profile.
Distribution of priest Families in the US in 1920
Number of priest families
 107-211
 36-106
 1-35
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view priest census records

Year

How is this helpful?

  • You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for priest records.
  • You can see how priest families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

What do I do next?

The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
  • Census records can tell you little-known facts about your ancestors such as birthplace, residence and occupation.
  • Click here to search priest census records.

Search for priest records

Name

Birth

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA
Give priority to    

More resources for your priest family history

Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?

A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.

Begin your family tree with your name:

Learn more about family trees.

The priest name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the priest family name as far back in history as possible.

Member Connections

More Tools and Resources