Penix is a
Cornish-language family name
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
(
Cornish surnames
Cornish surnames are surnames used by Cornish people and often derived from the Cornish language such as Jago, Trelawney or Enys. Others have strong roots in the region and many in the UK with names such as Eddy, Stark or Rowe are likely to hav ...
) originating in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
. In
medieval times
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
, people were known by their given names, but as the
population grew, surnames were added based on the place that they owned or lived in to distinguish people from one another. While
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
people tended to use
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Patronymics are used, b ...
names, many
Cornish people
Cornish people or the Cornish (, ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which (like the Welsh people, Welsh and Breton people, Bretons) can trace its roots to ...
used local place names as surnames, sometimes in addition to patronymics.
The name Penix could be derived from a local place name; the family lived in the parish of
Saint Pinnock, in Cornwall. Surnames are spelled in many ways, due to lack of spelling rules. Therefore, the name has been spelled Pinoke, Pinnick,
Pinnock, Pincock and Pinock in addition to other variations of the name.
Swyrich Corporation
/ref> The word "Pen" in Cornish means "head" or "end".
People named Penix
* Amanda Penix (born 1978), winner of Miss Oklahoma Teen USA 1997 and Miss Oklahoma USA
The Miss Oklahoma USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Oklahoma in the Miss USA pageant. This pageant is directed by Vanbros and Associates, headquartered in Shawnee, Kansas. In 1997, Oklahoma joined th ...
2000
* Jim Penix, American basketball player
* M. O. Penix (?–1955), American politician
*Michael Penix Jr.
Michael Tarrence Penix Jr. ( ; born May 8, 2000) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). After three seasons of college football with the Indiana Hoosiers ...
(born 2000), American football player
* Kevin Penix (1962–2012), American politician
See also
* Penick
* Fenix
* Phenix
* Phoenix
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penix
Cornish-language surnames