Recorded in fourteen forms including Paine, Pane, and Payne, this is an English surname of ancient origins. It derives from the Latin word paganus originally meaning a villager or rustic, and later in England, a heathen. Surprisingly perhaps it was a popular personal name before the days of surnames, and is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, when Edmund filius Pagen.appears in London. Later Reginoldus filius Pain appears in the records of the Knights' Templars better known as the Crusaders in 1185. The surname is probably always patronymic. The name is recorded in the West Indies and thre American colonies as early as 1678, Susanna Pain, the daughter of Robert and Elisabeth Pain, being baptised in the parish of St. Michael's. The coat of arms most associated with the family was granted on 12th January 1586 and has the blazon of a gold shield, on a bend engrailed, between two cotises sable, three golden heraldic roses. The crest being a demi ostrich holding in the beak a key. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Pane. This was dated 1190, in the "Pipe Rolls of Worcestershire", during the reign of King Richard 1st of England, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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