312 Global Papes Family Members

Papes Family History

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a variant form of the more familiar surname "Pope", which developed into a surname from the habitual use of a nickname given with reference to the ecclesiastical title for the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century "papa", Middle English "pope" from the Latin "papa", bishop, pope, itself from the Greek "pappas", father. The Latin term was originally used as a title of respect for male clergy of every rank, but in the Western Church it gradually became restricted to bishops, and finally only to the bishop of Rome.