Origins Available: English, French
Where did the English Page family come from? What is the English coat of arms/family crest? When did the Page family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the history of the family name?
Page is an old Anglo-Saxon name that was given to a person who was a server or personal attendant to a Lord or nobleman. Occupational names that were derived from the common trades of the medieval era transcended European cultural and linguistic boundaries. Occupational names have remained fairly common in the modern period. This is attested to by the continuing appearance of occupational suffixes at the end of many English surnames. Some of these suffixes include: herd, monger, maker, hewer, smith, and wright.
One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Page has appeared include Page, Paige and others.
First found in Sussex where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.
At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Page arrived in North America very early: Robert Page settled in Boston with his wife and three children in 1637; Thomas Page settled in Boston with his wife and two children in 1635; Elizabeth Page settled with her husband Edward in Barbados in 1670.
Motto Translated: Hope makes labour light.
Suggested Readings for the name Page
* The History and Genealogy of the Robert and Rachel Page Family, c1750-1827 from Goochland County, Virginia, and Spartanburg County, South Caroli. * by Donald W. Page, Carolina Page's: (sic) a Compilation of Genealogical Information on Page Families in the Carolinas Beginning in 1521 to Present Ti. * by Robert E. Page.
Some noteworthy people of the name Page
* Professor Charles Hunt Page, American Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Senior Editor of Sociology, Random House-Knopf Inc, Northampton, MA * Charles Page, American Sociologist * Ernest Winslow Page, American Gynecologist and Educator, Professor and Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Trutgers Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey * Robert Morris Page, American Physicist with the U.S. Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC. * Robert Page, American Physician * Alexander Page, British Engineer * André Henri Charles Page, academic, Grenoble * Sir Dennis Page, Classisist * Ernest Page, Gynaecologist * Jean-Pierre Yves Marie Page, engineer, Neuilly-sur-Seine * John Page, Professor of Buildings * Rodney Page, British Politician * Roger Pichard du Page, economist, Paris
