Origins of surname
We have not been able to find any derivation for this name in any of its variations, although it is still found in limited numbers throughout France today, particularly in the Manche and Calvados departments of Normandy. We believe that it is likely to have derived from paysan, the French for 'peasant'. It is also possible that it is a diminuitive of Payn.
Early records
This is a very old name in Jersey, with records found as far back as the beginning of the 13th century. However, the original family or families appear to have died out before the advent of church baptism registers in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The family name reappeared briefly in the early 18th century with the arrival of the Huguenot refugee family headed by Jacques, whose name can be found in the St Helier burial registers along with his daughters Madeleine and Marie.
The name can be found in Jersey today, and this family can probably trace its origin to Louis Honore Paisnel, from France, who married Elizabeth Marie Flanagan in St Brlade in 1835, and Pierre Valentin Paisnel, who married Marie Monamy in St Helier two years later. How and if the two men were related is unclear, but both appear to be from families which can be traced back to Montchaton, a small town to the south-west of Coutances on the nearby Normandy coast.
A short family tree below starts with Pierre Valentin.
The second tree is believed to show the ancestry of Pierre Valentin, but this has not been fully confirmed.
The third tree is believed to show the ancestry of Louis Honore, but this has also not been fully confirmed.
Variants
- Paisnel, 1668
- Peynell c1340
- Paeinel 1331
- Paynell c1309
- Paynel, 1274
- Paynellus
- Paganellus c1309
- Painell 1207
Family records
Church records
- Paisnel baptisms in Jersey
- Paisnel marriages in Jersey (groom)
- Paisnel marriages in Jersey (bride)
- Paisnel burials in Jersey
Family trees
Coats of arms
Pre-1500 Paisnel arms researched by Julian Wilson
Paisnel family histories
- Edward Paisnel, the 'Beast of Jersey'
Great War service
- Albert Philip Paisnel (1890- ) (Gr) son of Francis and Emily, ex-RMIJ, Private, Hampshire Regiment
- John James Paisnel (1884- ) (St C) son of Francis and Emilie Judith, ex-RMIJ, Private, Dorsetshire Regiment
Family wills
These wills created by members of the Paisnel family are now held by Jersey Archive. By visiting the archive site and using the names, dates and reference numbers shown here, it is possible to view a copy of each will. You will have to subscribe to the Archive's online service to do this. To find out more about this collection, which covers the period from 1663 to 1980, and how to search for your family's wills there, visit our Jersey wills page
- Isidore Paisnel - 7 October 1922, D/Y/A/82
- Edouard Paisnel, 6 Metivier Lane, St Helier - 27 May 1936, D/Y/A/99
- Emile Paisnel, St Martin, bequeaths to Ada Jane Collas for life Le Boulivot de Bas, reversion to Emile John Louis Paisnel and George Isidore Paisnel - 31 October 1945, D/Y/A/114
Burial records
Family album
Clarence Monamy Paisnel
Charles Yves Coutanche and Emily Frances, nee Paisnel, and their sons
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We have been sent further Paisnel images from a family album, which undoubtedly include family members as well as friends. We are hoping that it will prove possible to identify some of them and add them individually to this page in due course
Family homes
- Jambart Villa, St Clement
Family gravestones
Click on any image to see a larger version. See the Jerripedia gravestone image collection page for more information about our gravestone photographs
St John’s Church cemetery
Tips
The church record links above will open in a new tab in your browser and generate the most up-to-date list of each set of records from our database. These lists replace earlier Family page baptism lists, which were not regularly updated. They have the added advantage that they produce a chronological listing for the family name in all parishes, so you do not have to search through A-Z indexes, parish by parish.
We have included some important spelling variants on some family pages, but it may be worth searching for records for a different spelling variant. Think of searching for variants with or without a prefix, such as Le or De. To search for further variants, or for any other family name, just click on the appropriate link below for the first letter of the family name, and a new tab will open, giving you the option to choose baptism, marriage or burial records. You will then see a list of available names for that type of record and you can select any name from that list. That will display all records of the chosen type for that family name, and you can narrow the search by adding a given name, selecting a parish or setting start and end dates in the form you will see above. You can also change the family name, or search for a partial name if you are not certain of the spelling
The records are displayed 30 to a page, but by selecting the yellow Wiki Table option at the top left of the page you can open a full, scrollable list. This list will either be displayed in a new tab or a pop-up window. You may have to edit the settings of your browser to allow pop-up windows for www.jerripediabmd.net. For the small number of family names for which a search generates more than 1,500 records you will have to refine your search (perhaps using start or end dates) to reduce the number of records found.
New records
Since August 2020 we have added several thousand new records from the registers of Roman Catholic, Methodist and other non-conformist churches. These will appear in date order within a general search of the records and are also individually searchable within the database search form
A--B--C--D--E--F--G--H--I--J--K--L--M--N--O--P--Q--R--S--T--U--V--W--X--Y--Z
