Penter Family History

The variant of Painter, John Penter, in Crowan 1524 in Cornwall Subsidies is almost certainly identical with John Paynter in Crowan 1522 in Cornwall Military Survey. Rarely, if ever, does it stem from one of several places in Cornwall named Pentire, derived from Middle Cornish *pen-tyr ‘headland’ (pen ‘head top end; promontory’ tyr ‘land’).

This place-name probably did give rise to an occasional surname such as that of Thomas Pentyre 1543 in Cornwall Subsidies, who lived in Pentire, Saint Eval parish. The pronunciation of this surname (with stress on the second syllable as in the place-name) could have been altered to Penter (with stress on the first syllable), possibly influenced by Penter/Painter mentioned previously, though evidence is lacking.

Pentyr(e) in the following examples is usually an alternative spelling of Penter or Painter. This suggests a complex relationship between the place-names, surnames, and their pronunciations across historical contexts.