Parmalee: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

Whether you spell it Parmalee or Parmelee, the story begins in the same place. The name is generally explained as “A dweller at the meadow belonging to the palmer”. Only a small detail separates the spellings: Parmalee has “a” where Parmelee has “e”. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. The same family of names includes Parmele and Parmley.

According to the 2010 US Census, the Parmalee surname had 224 bearers. That puts it among the top 100,000 US surnames.

Arms linked to Parmelee and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. For the full story, order the Parmalee surname pack.