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The English surname Paine is derived from the the Middle English personal name Pain(e), Payn(e) (Old French Paien, from Latin Paganus), introduced to Britain by the Normans. The name originally described a person who lived in the country (originally meaning “a villager or rustic”), and later a heathen. In England the name is mainly associated with counties Kent and Sussex and in Ireland predominantly in counties Dublin and Derry. In England it is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, with that of Edmund filius Pagen of Somerset, whilst Reginoldus filius Pain appears in the Knight Templars (Crusader) register of Lincolnshire in 1185. Other recordings taken from early surviving rolls and charters include Jone Pane of Worcester in 1190, Stephen Paynes of London, in the Patent Rolls of 1230.

Coat of Arms: Gules a fesse between two lions passant argent.

Translation: Gules denotes Military Fortitude and Magnanimity. The lion is the symbol of Strength, Courage and Generosity.

Family Motto: Malo mori quam foedari Translation: I would rather die than be dishonoured (i.e., Death before Dishonour)

Origin: England

The best known Paine must be Tom Paine (1737-1809), son of Thetford staymaker, who became one of the leading polemicists of the American War of Independence, the author of “The Rights of Man” and “The Age of Reason” and, curiously enough, a leading advocate of iron bridges as a means of bettering human society.