21,456 Global PETTIT Family Members

PETTIT Family History

This most interesting surname is of Old French origin, and was a nickname given to a small person or to the younger of two bearers of the same given name, from the Old French "petit", small. In the modern idiom the name is found as Petit, Petyt, Pettit, Pettet, Petty and Pettie in England, while in France it is cognate with Petit, Lepetit and Petelin. The creation of surnames from nicknames was a common practice in the Middle Ages, and many modern-day surnames, as above, derive from medieval nicknames referring to personal characteristics, as in this instance "the small one". The surname itself is first recorded in Hampshire, in the Domesday Book of 1086 (see below), and was probably introduced into England in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of 1066...

Pettit Family from Wexford

THE Pettits have been in Wexford at least since the fourteenth century when a Baldwin le Pettit held half a knight's fee in 1247 and 1307 at Ballytally, believed to be the ancient name of Pettitstown, near Ballycogley.' Baldwin le Petit also held half a knight's fee in Ballycleary in 1305;2 it is interesting to note that the Petits were still in Ballycleary up to the early 1900s when the property passed to the Rowe family, the present owners. The Wexford Pettits were probably a minor branch of the family founded by William le Petit who came with the Normans and obtained lands in Mullingar from Hugh de Lacey. Petit's Bay to the west of Baginbun Head in Shelburne is now commonly called Carnivon Strand.

Rev. Clement Pettit, a member of an old family of Hilltown, Ballycogley, was parish priest of Oylegate from 1832 until his death in 1848. He had previously been curate for nineteen years in Tomacork. Rev. Gregory Pettit, who died parish priest of Ballyoughtor in 1940, was a native of Rathmore, Broadway. Another prominent member of the Rathmore family was William Pettit, a poor law guardian in the 1880s, and an active Land League member.

In the last century Thomas Pettit was a corn merchant in Michael St., Wexford, and John Pettit, a grocer in South Main Street. Griffith's Valuation of 1853 records thirty Pettit occupiers in the Barony of Forth in that year.

The name is best known in Wexford today as that of John J. Pettiti, a prominent businessman in Wexford town and Enniscorthy, who is a native of Pierecestown, and Frank Pettit, auctioneer, of Wygram Place, a former captain of Rosslare Golf Club (1963) and captain of Wexford Wanderers Rugby teams in the late 30s and early 40s when he was capped for Leinster junior interprovincial sides several times. His wife, Dorrie Pettit was one of the dedicated volunteers who played a leading role in establishing the success of the internationally famed Wexford Festival Opera as its wardrobe mistress for many years.