PAPILLON. Fr., a butterfly— probably with reference to the gaudy costume of the original bearer of the name. The surname is found in England as early as the time of the Conqueror, in the records of the church of Durham ; and in subsequent reigns, it is not unfrequent. The H.R. forms are Papilion, Papilioun, Papillun, &c. But the Papillous of Kent and Sussex are of Huguenot origin, and are descendants of Anthony Papillon, the friend of Erasmus, and one of the most eminent Protestants of France. His grandson, David Papillou, settled at Lubenham, co. Leicester, and was ancestor of the Papillous of Acrise. B.L.G.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.