Pallent

Recorded as Pallant and Pallent, this is an English suranme. It is locational and has a very interesting origin from an area of the small town in Chichester, the the county of Sussex known as 'The Pallant'. The origin of the name is the Olde English pre 7th century word 'palant' and the translation is 'The Palace' or possibly 'The Royal Enclosure'. 'The Pallant of Chichester' is also a peculiar, which describes a church or parish with its own jurisdiction from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Locational surnames are usually from names. that is to say names given to people after they left their original homes and moved somewhere else. In this case the first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John atte Palente. This was dated 1285, in the Assize Court rolls of Sussex, during the reign of King Edward 1st known to history as 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.