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Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources

Petronilla f. A fem. dim. of Latin Petronius, a Roman nomen possibly derived from Latin petra, from Ancient Greek πέτρα 'a rock, stone'.

The name of a apocryphal virgin martyr and a 12th C queen of Aragon.

Because of the supposed derivation from the same root as Peter, in the Middle Ages, Petronilla was the more common feminine form of that, as opposed to the actual feminine form, Petra.

England
Latin
1279–80 Petronilla (nom) WaHR-SK p. 41, Pretronilla (nom) ibid. p. 46; 1296 Petronella (nom) RCS-1 p. 92b, Petronilla (nom) ibid. p. 92b, Petronille (gen) ibid. p. 92b; 1377 Petronilla (nom) FenPT-2 p. 5; 1381 Petronilla (nom) Suffolk1381 p. 69
Early Modern English
1555 Petronill bruton-vol1 p. 27; 1556 Petronylle BarnstapleBap p. 9; 1558 Petronill bruton-vol1 p. 110; 1559 Parnella BUmar-vol2 p. 60, Petronell bruton-vol1 p. 30; 1563 Peternell COmar-vol2 p. 47; 1568 Petroinel bruton-vol1 p. 5; 1574 Parnell BEmar-vol1 p. 9; 1576 Pernell SaxhamSf p. 3; 1587 Parnell DEmar-vol2 p. 14; 1589 Parnell ibid. p. 18, Petronell bruton-vol1 p. 49; 1593 Peternel DEmar-vol2 p. 26; 1594 Peternel ibid. p. 29; 1599 Parnell ibid. p. 40, Peternell ibid. p. 43
France
Latin
11thC Petronilla (nom) St-Bernard-Romans no. 115; 1062 Petronilla (nom) StVdM-II 692; 1147 Petronilla (abl) clairvaux-12thc 18; 1179 Petronilla (abl) ibid. 176; 1180 Petronille (gen) RotScaNor p. 5; 1259 Petronilla (nom) ArrestReg-volI XXI, Pentecost, Petronillam (acc) ibid. XXI, Pentecost, Petronille (gen) ibid. XXI, Pentecost; 1273 Petronilla (nom) RegToul-13thC p. 21, Petronillam (acc) ibid. p. 23; 1274 Petronille (gen) ibid. p. 56; 1301 Petronilla (nom) MemPic-vol17 p. 248
Old French
1296 Perrenele paris1296 p. 2; 1313 Perronelle Paris1313 p. 1, Perronnelle ibid. p. 38; 1327 Pernelle MemDocMan-2 p. 190
Germany
Early New High German
1497 Peternella Nurn1497 304
Spain
Catalan
1510 Patronilla valencia1510 2213
Switzerland
Latin
1220 Petronilla (nom) CartHaut 36
Cite as: S.L. Uckelman. "Petronilla". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2015, no. 3. http://dmnes.org/2015/3/name/Petronilla.