Perrin

Origins and History

Perrin is a medieval French diminutive of Pierre — the French form of Peter — and was common as both a given name and, eventually, a hereditary surname. The suffix -in in Old French indicated affection or smallness: Perrin literally meant "little Peter" or "young Peter," and was used to distinguish a son from his father when both bore the same Christian name.

As hereditary surnames crystallised in France between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, Perrin transitioned from a nickname to a fixed family name. It is particularly concentrated in eastern France — Burgundy, Franche-Comté, and the regions bordering Switzerland — where the name appears in parish records from the fourteenth century.

The name's distribution reflects the deep penetration of the cult of Saint Peter in medieval French religious culture. Churches dedicated to Saint Pierre were among the most common in France, and the given name Pierre was among the most popular for centuries, generating dozens of diminutive surnames including Perrin, Pernot, Perrot, and Perreau.

The French Diaspora

Perrin families migrated throughout the French colonial world — to Canada, to Louisiana, and to the Antilles. In French Canada, Perrin appears in early colonial records, and the family name spread through Quebec and Acadia. Some American families of French-Canadian origin bear anglicised forms — Perry being the most common English equivalent.

The physicist Jean-Baptiste Perrin, born in Lille in 1870, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926 for his work on Brownian motion and the confirmation of the atomic theory. He is among the most distinguished scientific bearers of the name.

Spelling Variants

• Perrine
• Perrinot
• Perrinat
• Perin
• Perron
• Perreau