NORFOLK SURNAMES: P

PILCH/ER:

This is an English occupational name for a person who either made or sold an old-fashioned garment called a pilch, which was a coarse leather garment often with the fur still on it. The word is derived from the old English word pylece which came from the Late Latin pellicia (using the ‘ch’ sound we now see in the modern name). Although the garment may have long fallen out of use it remained with the pelisse, a fur or fur-lined cloak, often seen in a shortened form as part of the military dress of a hussar.
In the IGI the Pilcher/Pulcher variation occurs only 33 times in Norfolk, the earliest being 1741, but the name Pilch is referred to 938 times for the county starting in 1594 at East Dereham.
In the 1881 census for Norfolk There were 69 people with the surname Pilch in Norfolk and just five Pilchers.

SURNAME DIRECTORY: A B C D E F G H I J K N P R S T

Click the letter to see some examples of surnames, their meanings and distribution in Norfolk.