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Percy Family History

Percy Name Meaning

English (of Norman origin):: nickname from Old French percehaie ‘pierce hedge’ (Old French percer ‘to pierce penetrate’ + haie ‘hedge fence’) perhaps with the sense of someone breaking into an enclosure. Percehaie is the name of one of the sons of the foxes Renart and Hermeline in the medieval French epic Roman de Renart whose earliest known version is from the 1170s. The surname is older than that but it may originate in a nickname for the fox as ‘enclosure piercer’ perhaps amounting to ‘chicken thief’. habitational name from any of several places called Percy in Calvados Eure and Manche; William de Perci the Domesday tenant-in-chief and under-tenant of Hugh Earl of Chester came from either Percy-en-Auge (Eure) or Percy (Manche).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


Similar surnames: Mercy, Berry, Merry, Cerny, Pesch, Pero, Terry, Perna, Perry, Ferry

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Hint: Try searching for a relative alive in 1940.

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Where is the Percy family from?

You can see how Percy families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Percy family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Percy families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. In 1840 there were 10 Percy families living in New York. This was about 24% of all the recorded Percy's in USA. New York had the highest population of Percy families in 1840.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Percy surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.

What did your Percy ancestors do for a living?

In 1940, Laborer and Housewife were the top reported jobs for men and women in the USA named Percy. 21% of Percy men worked as a Laborer and 8% of Percy women worked as a Housewife. Some less common occupations for Americans named Percy were Clerk and Stenographer. .

View Census Data for Percy | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1940

  • Laborer
    21%
  • Farmer
    16%
  • Salesman
    7%
  • Clerk
    4%

Top Female Occupations In 1940

  • Housewife
    8%
  • Teacher
    7%
  • Cook
    6%
  • Stenographer
    5%
Black & white image of two construction labourers

What Percy family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 97,000 census records available for the last name Percy. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Percy census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search US census records for Percy

Passenger Lists

There are 13,000 immigration records available for the last name Percy. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Percy immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 9,000 military records available for the last name Percy. For the veterans among your Percy ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Percy military records

You've only scratched the surface of Percy family history

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What is the average Percy lifespan?

Between 1945 and 2004, in the United States, Percy life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1945, and highest in 2003. The average life expectancy for Percy in 1945 was 26, and 78 in 2004.

View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for Percy

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