Pilar History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Pilar

What does the name Pilar mean?

The ancient Anglo-Saxon culture once found in Britain is the soil from which the many generations of the Pilar family have grown. The name Pilar was given to a member of the family who was a young buck; it is derived from the Old French word poulain, which meant colt. 1 This nickname would have been given to a person given over to friskiness and possessed of a certain nervous energy in much the same way a young horse is. A broad and miscellaneous class of surnames, nickname surnames referred to a characteristic of the first person who used the name. They can describe the bearer's favored style of clothing, appearance, habits, or character. Often nicknames described strong traits or attributes that people wished to emulate in a specific animal. In the pre-Christian era, many pagan gods and demigods were believed to be a mixture of animals and humans, such as the Greek god Pan who was the god of flocks and herds and was represented as a man with the legs, horns and ears of a goat. In the Middle Ages, anthropomorphic ideas, which attributed human qualities and form to gods or animals, were held about the characters of other living creatures. They were based on the creature's habits. Moreover, these associations were reflected in folk-tales, mythology, and legends which portrayed animals behaving as humans.

Early Origins of the Pilar family

The surname Pilar was first found in Yorkshire but one of the earliest record of the name was Robert Pullen (died 1146), an English theologian and official of the Roman Catholic Church. He is generally thought to have been born in Poole, Devonshire and first educated in England. He was Archdeacon of Rochester in 1134. Shortly after this appointment, he went to Paris. There, he taught logic and theology tutoring John of Salisbury, who describes him as a man commended both by his life and his learning in 1141. Back in France, we found that John and Ivo Polain were listed in Normandy (1185-1190.) A few years later nine of the name were listed there in 1198 2

Other early records include: Richard Pulein who was listed in the Pipe Rolls for Norfolk in 1166 and later in the Feet of Fines for Bedfordshire in 1195; Geoffrey Poleyn, found in the Assize Rolls for Somerset in 1266; Thomas Pullan, listed in Yorkshire in 1509; and John Pullen, recorded as a Freeman of York in 1601. 3

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 proved the widespread use of the name by that time: Nicholas le Pullen, Salop (Shropshire); John Puleyn, Wiltshire; Thomas Pulein, Yorkshire; and Richard Puleyn, Dorset. 4

Other Somerset records show John Polayn and Nicholas Polayn, 1 Edward III (both recorded in the first year of Edward III's reign.) 5

Early History of the Pilar family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Pilar research. Another 60 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1517, 1565, 1598, 1631, 1648, 1654, 1657, 1667, 1690, 1713, 1714 and 1758 are included under the topic Early Pilar History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pilar Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Pilar family name include Pulleine, Pullen, Pullan, Pulleyn, Pulling and many more.

Early Notables of the Pilar family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Samuel Pullen, Pullein, or Pulleyne (1598-1667), an English prelate, Archbishop of Tuam, son of William Pullein, rector of Ripley, Yorkshire; Benjamin Pulleyn (died 1690) the Cambridge tutor of Isaac Newton; Samuel Pullen (also Pullein and Pulleyne) (1598-1667), who was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Tuam; and Henry-Percy Pulleine who purchased Crake Hall.John Pullain (Pullayne or Pulleyne) (1517-1565) was a Yorkshire divine and poet who was educated at New College, Oxford. Josiah Pullen (1631-1714) was Vice-Principal...
Another 84 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Pilar Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pilar migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Pilar surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Pilar Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Ma Del Pilar, aged 25, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1831 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Pilar (post 1700) +

John Jay Pilar, American politician, Candidate for Presidential Elector for Michigan, 1972 7
Maria Pilar Calvo i Gómez (b. 1963), Spanish journalist, politician and a member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain
María Pilar Valero Cebrián (1970-2022), Spanish basketball player who played as a shooting guard
Renée Pilar Estevez (b. 1967), American actress and writer, daughter of Martin Sheen
Pilar De Biase (b. 1996), Argentine-Italian field hockey player
Pilar Marie Victoriá López (1995-2024), Puerto Rican volleyball player
Pilar Montoya (1960-2015), Spanish flamenco dancer
Pilar Seurat (1938-2001), born Rita Hernandez, a Philippine-American film and television actress in the 1960s
Pilar Pellicer (1938-2020), born Pilar Pellicer López de Llergo, a Mexican film actress who won the Ariel Award for Best Actress for La Choca
Pilar Barreiro Álvarez (b. 1955), Spanish politician, member of the People's Party

The Pilar Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Nulla pallescere culpa
Motto Translation: To turn pale from no crime.

Sources +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Dickinson, F.H., Kirby's Quest for Somerset of 16th of Edward the 3rd London: Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St, Martin's Lane, 1889. Print.
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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 15) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html