THE WORTH FAMILY'S PAGAN ANCESTRY IN NORMANDY

Roman or Viking? 

FAMILY NAMES AND THEIR STORY, by S. Baring‑Gould, published by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 1968:

"Paganel or Painell, a great baronial family in Normandy. The name probably given to the original Norman founder of the family, who came over with Rollo and obstinately refused to be baptized. So he was called The Pagan, and possibly his sons and grandsons were poor Christians, if Christians at all. It still remains as Payne or Pennel."
 

THE STORY OF SURNAMES, by L.G. Pines, published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, VT, 1966:
 

"Some of the Norman names come from a distant land and century, for the Normans, who had only a very superficial culture, were thinly disguised descendants of the Vikings. Part of the price of their settlement in Normandy had been the stipulation that they should be converted to Christianity. Some of them declined to accept baptism and were probably known as pagans or payens. This name stuck and was conveyed into England where, strange to relate, it became a baptismal name. . .Pain or Payne are reminders of its former widespread use."
 

A BIT OF HISTORY: At the time, Charles II, faced with the immovable presence of Vikings squatting on French soil at the mouth of the Seine, and even occasionally knocking at the gates of Paris, gave them sovereignty over the land and named Rollo (Hrolf) the first Duke of Normandy. In return, they were to protect his flank from other intruders and adopt Christianity in place of the pantheistic religion of their homeland.
 

Rollo, a direct ancestor of William the Conqueror, accepted these terms, but some of his warriors did not. They bore the name Pagan rather proudly as they continued to worship Thor and Odin.