Date
Name Pagan
Gender Masculine
Usage Anglo-Norman, Medieval English
Other Forms FormsPaen, Pain, Payn
Edit Status Status
Meaning & History
From Latin paganus meaning "rustic, rural" and later "heathen", which was often given to children whose baptism had been postponed or adults whose religious zeal was lacking. An Anglo-Norman bearer was Sir Pain or Pagan fitzJohn (died 1137), one of the English king Henry I's "new men". In Thomas Hardy's novel 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' (1891) Sir Pagan d'Urberville is the founder of the d'Urberville and Durbeyfield families, of which the eponymous Tess Durbeyfield is a member.