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Show ContentsPayne History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
Payne Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Family Crest Download (JPG) Heritage Series - 600 DPI

Etymology of Payne

What does the name Payne mean?

Of all the French names to come from Normandy, Payne is one of the most ancient. The name is a result of the original family having lived at Payen, in Normandy.

Early Origins of the Payne family

The surname Payne was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where this distinguished family held a family seat at Payen, and were members of the noblesse of that region.

Early History of the Payne family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Payne research. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) covering the year 1510 is included under the topic Early Payne History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Payne Spelling Variations

Most surnames have experienced slight spelling changes. A son may not chose to spell his name the same way that his father did. Many were errors, many deliberate. During the early development of the French language, a person usually gave his version, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Prefixes or suffixes varied. They were optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, there a many spelling variations of the name Payne, including Pain, Paine, Payn, Payne, Le Pain, De Pain, Lepain, Lepaine, Lepain, Painchaud, Painchault, Painchaux, Pinchaud, Paincuit, Paindavoine, Painlevé, Paintendre and many more.

Early Notables of the Payne family

More information is included under the topic Early Payne Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Payne World Ranking

In the United States, the name Payne is the 166th most popular surname with an estimated 141,759 people with that name. 1 However, in Canada, the name Payne is ranked the 371st most popular surname with an estimated 12,481 people with that name. 2 And in Newfoundland, Canada, the name Payne is the 42nd popular surname with an estimated 520 people with that name. 3 Australia ranks Payne as 154th with 19,278 people. 4 New Zealand ranks Payne as 163rd with 3,182 people. 5 The United Kingdom ranks Payne as 119th with 41,186 people. 6

Payne migration to the United States +

France finally gave land incentives for 2,000 migrants during the 1700s. Early marriage was encouraged in New France, and youths of 18 took fourteen-year-old girls for their wives. The fur trade was developed and attracted migrants, both noble and commoner from France. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries, leaving French names scattered across the continent. The search for the Northwest passage continued. Migration from France to New France or Quebec, as it was now more popularly called, continued until 1759. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In the treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were ceded by France to Britain in 1713. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported. They found refuge in Louisiana. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many of this distinguished family name Payne were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Payne were

Payne Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Thomas Payne, aged 23, who settled in Virginia in 1635 aboard the ship "Transport"
  • Mrs. Anna Payne, aged 40, who landed in New England in 1635 aboard the ship "Increase" 7
  • Mr. William Payne, (b. 1620), aged 15, British settler who arrived in New England in 1635 aboard the ship "Abigail" 8
  • Jo Payne, (b. 1621), aged 14, British settler who arrived in New England in 1635 aboard the ship "Abigail" 8
  • Miss Elizabeth Payne, aged 21, who settled in Virginia in 1635 aboard the ship "Assurance" 8
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Payne Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Jasper Payne, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1743 7
Payne Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Isaac Payne, who landed in America in 1805 7
  • Elizabeth Payne, aged 40, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1812 7
  • Joel Payne, aged 35, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1836 7
  • Charles Payne, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1850 7
  • Mary Payne, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 7
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Payne migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Payne Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century
  • Mr. John B Payne U.E. born in Clonmel, Ireland who settled in Fredericton, New Brunswick c. 1784 he served in the 17th Regiment Light Dragoons 9
Payne Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • John Payne, aged 32, a farmer, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1833 aboard the ship "Hibernia" from Kinsale, Ireland
  • Mary Payne, aged 26, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1833 aboard the ship "Hibernia" from Kinsale, Ireland
  • Miss Margaret Payne, aged 2 who was emigrating through Grosse Isle Quarantine Station, Quebec aboard the ship "Sobraon" departing 8th May 1847 from Liverpool, England; the ship arrived on 29th June 1847 but she died on board 10

Payne migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Payne Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. William Payne, English convict who was convicted in London, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Fanny" on 25th August 1815, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 11
  • Mr. Joseph Payne, English convict who was convicted in Middlesex, England for life, transported aboard the "Baring" in April 1815, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 12
  • Mr. James Payne, British Convict who was convicted in Lancaster, Lancashire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Batavia" in October 1817, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 13
  • Henry Payne, English convict from Middlesex, who was transported aboard the "Almorah" on April 1817, settling in New South Wales, Australia 14
  • Mr. Joseph Payne, British Convict who was convicted in Shropshire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Coromandel" on 27th October 1819, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 15
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Payne migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Payne Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • George Payne, aged 29, who arrived in Port Nicholson aboard the ship "Oriental" in 1840
  • Maria Payne, aged 22, who arrived in Port Nicholson aboard the ship "Oriental" in 1840
  • Mr. George Payne, (b. 1810), aged 29, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Oriental" arriving in Port Nicholson, Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1840 16
  • Mrs. Payne, (b. 1817), aged 22, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Oriental" arriving in Port Nicholson, Wellington, New Zealand on 31st January 1840 16
  • William Payne, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Ashburton" in 1857
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Payne migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 17
Payne Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century
  • Mr. John Payne, (b. 1617), aged 18, British settler traveling aboard the ship "Matthew" arriving in St Christopher (Saint Kitts) in 1635 18
  • Mr. Robert Payne, aged 21 who arrived in St. Kitts (St Christopher) aboard the ship "Amity" in 1635 8
Payne Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century
  • William Maynard Payne, who arrived in Barbados in 1802 7

Contemporary Notables of the name Payne (post 1700) +

  • Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin (1900-1979), British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed in her 1925 doctoral thesis that stars were composed primarily of hydrogen and helium
  • Donald Milford Payne (1934-2024), American Democratic Party politician, U.S. Representative from New Jersey 10th District, 1989-; Delegate to Democratic National Convention from New Jersey, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 19
  • Roger Searle Payne (1935-2023), American biologist and environmentalist famous for his 1967 co-discovery of whale song among humpback whales
  • Adreian DeAngleo Payne (1991-2022), American professional NBA basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Orlando Magic; he was fatally shot at home in Orlando in the early morning of May 9, 2022
  • Allison Payne (1964-2021), American nine-time Emmy Award winner, a 21-year anchorwoman with WGN-TV
  • Eddie Payne (1951-2021), American college basketball coach and the head men's basketball coach at the University of South Carolina Upstate
  • Leslie "Les" Payne (1941-2018), American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, editor and columnist at Newsday, founder of the National Association of Black Journalists
  • Willie W. Payne (b. 1955), American politician, Mayor of Pontiac, Michigan, 2002-. African Methodist Episcopal 19
  • William Winter Payne (1807-1874), American Democratic Party politician, Member of Alabama State Legislature; U.S. Representative from Alabama, 1841-47 19
  • William Wallace Payne, American politician, Member of New York State Assembly from Cayuga County 1st District, 1859-60 19
  • ... (Another 169 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Air New Zealand Flight 901
  • Mr. Alfred Murray Payne (1945-1979), New Zealander passenger, from Remuera, North Island, New Zealand aboard the Air New Zealand Flight 901 for an Antarctic sightseeing flight when it flew into Mount Erebus; he died in the crash 20
Halifax Explosion
  • Mr. Walter F. G.  Payne (1886-1917), Canadian resident from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who died in the Halifax Explosion (1917) 21
HMAS Sydney II
  • Mr. John Robert Payne (1918-1941), Australian Sick Berth Attendant from Richmond, Victoria, Australia, who sailed into battle aboard HMAS Sydney II and died in the sinking 22
HMS Hood
  • Mr. John W Payne (b. 1905), English Leading Stoker serving for the Royal Navy from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, who sailed into battle and died in the HMS Hood sinking 23
  • Mr. Harry T Payne (b. 1921), English Able Seaman serving for the Royal Navy from Staines, Middlesex, England, who sailed into battle and died in the HMS Hood sinking 23
HMS Repulse
  • Mr. Kenneth James Payne, British Marine, who sailed into battle on the HMS Repulse (1941) and survived the sinking, listed as missing in action 24
Prince of Wales colliery
  • Mr. James Payne (b. 1862), Welsh coal miner who was working at the Prince of Wales colliery in Abercarn, Wales on the 11th September 1878 when there was a coal mine explosion; he died 25
RMS Lusitania
  • Mr. Michael Payne, English Fireman from England, who worked aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and died in the sinking 26
  • Mr. Martin Sylvester Payne, American 2nd Class passenger from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, who sailed aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and survived the sinking 27
RMS Titanic
  • Mr. Vivian Ponsonby Payne (d. 1912), aged 22, Canadian First Class passenger from Montreal, Quebec who sailed aboard the RMS Titanic and died in the sinking 28
SS Atlantic
  • Robert Payne, crew member who was aboard the ship "SS Atlantic" when it struck rocks off Nova Scotia in 1873, survived the sinking
SS Newfoundland
  • Mr. Headley Payne (b. 1896), Newfoundlander from Greenspond, who on the 30th March 1914 he was part of the Seal Crew of the "SS Newfoundland" leaving the ship to intercept the Stephano which took him to the hunting grounds, he disembarked to begin sealing, but was caught in a thickening storm, attempting to return to the Newfoundland he and the 132 crew made camp for two days the sealers were stranded on the ice in a blizzard attempting to return to the ship, he survived
USS Indianapolis
  • Edward Glenjoy Payne (1920-1965), American crew member on board the ship "USS Indianapolis" when she was on a top secret trip for the first nuclear weapon, she was sunk by Japanese Navy on 30th July 1945, he survived the sinking 29
  • George David Payne, American crew member on board the ship "USS Indianapolis" when she was on a top secret trip for the first nuclear weapon, she was sunk by Japanese Navy on 30th July 1945, he was one of the many who were killed in the sinking due to exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks 29

Suggested Readings for the name Payne +

  • The Paynes of Virginia by Brooke Payne.
  • Descendants of Sanford Payne by Madge Starliper Payne.
  • Foxworth, Bush, Payne, Bledsoe & Allied Lineages by Sarah Payne Foxworth.
  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. "Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution Maps - Forebears." Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames
  3. The order of Common Surnames in 1955 in Newfoundland retrieved on 20th October 2021 (retrieved from Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland by E.R. Seary corrected edition ISBN 0-7735-1782-0)
  4. "Most Common Last Names in Australia." Forebears, https://forebears.io/australia/surnames
  5. "Most Common Last Names in New Zealand." Forebears, https://forebears.io/new-zealand/surnames
  6. "UK surname ranking." UK Surname map, https://www.surnamemap.eu/unitedkingdom/surnames_ranking.php?p=10
  7. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  8. Pilgrim Ship's of 1600's. Retrieved January 6th 2023 from https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm
  9. Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
  10. Charbonneau, André, and Doris Drolet-Dubé. A Register of Deceased Persons at Sea and on Grosse Île in 1847. The Minister of Canadian Heritage, 1997. ISBN: 0-660-198/1-1997E (p. 92)
  11. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 28th September 2022). https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/fairlie
  12. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 16th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/baring
  13. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 30th September 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/batavia
  14. State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2016, October 27) Almorah voyage to New South Wales, Australia in 1817 with 180 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/almorah/1817
  15. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 12th March 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/coromandel
  16. New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
  18. Pilgrim Ship's of 1600's (Retrieved October 4th 2021 from https://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/shiplist.htm
  19. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 29) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
  20. Mount Erebus, Memorial, Roll of Remembrance (Retrieved 2018, February 21st). Retrieved from http://www.erebus.co.nz/memorialandawards/rollofremembrance.aspx
  21. Halifax Explosion Book of Remembrance | Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. (Retrieved 2014, June 23) . Retrieved from https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/halifax-explosion-book-remembrance
  22. HMAS Sydney II, Finding Sydney Foundation - Roll of Honour. (Retrieved 2014, April 24) . Retrieved from http://www.findingsydney.com/roll.asp
  23. H.M.S. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. Hood Rolls of Honour, Men Lost in the Sinking of H.M.S. Hood, 24th May 1941. (Retrieved 2016, July 15) . Retrieved from http://www.hmshood.com/crew/memorial/roh_24may41.htm
  24. HMS Repulse Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listrepulsecrew.html
  25. Entombed in flood and flame (retrieved 3rd August 2021). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20120603025705/http://www.crosskeys.me.uk/history/prince.htm
  26. Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 7) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/
  27. Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 6) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/
  28. Titanic Passenger List - Titanic Facts. (Retrieved 2016, July 13) . Retrieved from http://www.titanicfacts.net/titanic-passenger-list.html
  29. Final Crew List, retrieved 2021, October 30th Retrieved from https://www.ussindianapolis.com/final-crew
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