Percival

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French Perceval, name of a knight in a twelfth century Arthurian romance by the French poet Chrétien de Troyes. Shaped like Old French perce (“pierce”) + val (“valley”), but probably representing some (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Gaulish or (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Welsh name, possibly related to (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Welsh Peredur, from ber (“spear, lance”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Celtic *beru (“spit”) + dur (“hard metal, steel”). Cognate with German Parzival and Parsifal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɜː(ɹ)sɪvəl/

Proper noun

Percival

1. A male given name from the Celtic languages.
2. A patronymic surname transferred from the given name

Quotations

• 1953 Agatha Christie, A Pocket Full of Rye, page 20:

  Lancelot Fortescue! What a name! And what was the other son - Percival? He wondered what the first Mrs Fortescue had been like? She had a curious taste in Christian names...