4,652 Global PENGELLY Family Members

PENGELLY Family History

This interesting surname is of Cornish origin, and is a locational name from any of the thirteen places called Pengelly in Cornwall. The placename derives from the Cornish "pen", head, top, end, with "kelly", copse, grove; hence "a copse at the top or end of a piece of land". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname was first recorded in the late 13th Century (see below), and can also be found as Pengelly, Pengelley and Pengilly.