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Updated August 7, 2024

Girl name origins & meanings

  • English : Palm tree

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Old English : Palm-bearing pilgrim

How Popular Is The Name Palmer

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from Middle English, Old French palmer, paumer (from palme, paume ‘palm tree’, Latin palma), a nickname for someone who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Such pilgrims generally brought back a palm branch as proof that they had actually made the journey, but there was a vigorous trade in false souvenirs, and the term also came to be applied to a cleric who sold indulgences.
  • Swedish (Palmér) : ornamental name formed with palm ‘palm tree’ + the suffix -ér, from Latin -erius ‘descendant of’.
  • Irish : when not truly of English origin (see 1 above), a surname adopted by bearers of Gaelic Ó Maolfhoghmhair (see Milford) perhaps because they were from an ecclesiastical family.
  • German : topographic name for someone living among pussy willows (see Palm 2).
  • German : from the personal name Palm (see Palm 3).

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