Percy

  • [ PUR-see ]
  • English
From an English surname which was derived from the name of a Norman town Perci, which was itself perhaps derived from a Gaulish given name which was Latinized as Persius. The surname was borne by a noble English family, and it first used as a given name in their honour. A famous bearer was Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), an English romantic poet whose works include 'Adonais' and 'Ozymandias'. This name can also be used as a short form of PERCIVAL.

PERCIVAL   male   Arthurian Romance, English
Created by the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes for his poem 'Perceval, the Story of the Grail'. In the poem Perceval was one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table who was given a glimpse of the Holy Grail. The character (and probably the name) of Perceval was based on that of the Welsh hero PEREDUR. The spelling was perhaps altered under the influence of Old French percer val "to pierce the valley".
PEREDUR   male   Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Romance
Possibly means "hard spears" in Welsh. This was the name of several figures from Welsh mythology. It was later used by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Arthurian tales. The character of Percival was probably based on him.
FULL FORMS
ENGLISH: Percival
EQUIVALENTS
ARTHURIAN ROMANCE: Perceval, Percival
GERMAN: Parsifal
DIMINUTIVES AND SHORT FORMS
ENGLISH: Perce
OTHER FORMS
ARTHURIAN ROMANCE: Peredur
WELSH MYTHOLOGY: Peredur