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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English and German : occupational name from Middle English, Middle Low German peller ‘maker (or seller) of expensive cloth’, derived from Old English pæll, pell ‘costly or purple cloth or cloak’, Middle Low German pelle (see Pelle 2).
  • Southern English : topographic name for someone living by an inlet of the sea, a derivative of Old English pyll ‘inlet’ (see Pill 1) + the -er suffix denoting an inhabitant.
  • German : from a Germanic personal name formed with bald ‘brave’ + heri ‘army’.

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