There is evidence of `Plant like' names in France dating at least from the 9th century though, more traditionally, the Plant surname has been considered in connection with early evidence in England where it appears to have 13th century origins.
Radulphus Plente had, in 1219, duties to the king for the burbhote of Oxford and for reparations to the king's household (apparently at the royal palace of Woodstock). The spelling Plante occurs by 1262 and, by c1275, the names Plantin and Pl(a/e)nte coexist in Norfolk.
An 1890 book dealt with the spellings Plante and Plente together. The MED (Middle English Dictionary) lists plente and plante as variant spellings of plaunt. The following gloss introduces views and evidence about the meaning of this name.
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1. Such evidence as that above for Radulphus Plente leads to Postulate 1 that Plant means a `royalist auxiliary'. The early distribution of Pl(a/e)nte records shows them to be generally in proximity to the Warren earls of Surrey who had descended from Geoffrey Plante Genest of Anjou. An 1860 Surname Dictionary and an 1862 book note that the Plant name is supposed to be corrupted from Plantagenet. It is not unknown for servants to have adopted the names of their masters. |
2. Further considerations lead on to Postulate 2 that Plant may allude in some way to illegitimate descent (cf. the Plant Heraldry). Early occurrences of Pl(a/e)nte are found near 1254-8 records for Roger Plantyn, who was an auxiliary to a Warren-Bigod earl, and Plantyn may be considered as a possible diminutive of some other Plant-like name. Diminutives of names are sometimes said to denote illegitimate descent. A 1916 book suggested Plant had such a meaning as a young offspring. The Welsh meaning of plant is children. |
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3. A 1916 book suggests that the name form de la Plaunt is locative and meant `from the plantation'. This forms a basis for Postulate 3 though this also carries such alternative connotations as `from the (Plantagenet) Palatine of Chester' or `from the Plantagenet manor of la Planteland' or `from the plant soul as the first principal of life' (rather as LeVert or de la Greene may mean `of vigorous young growth' and DuPlan(t)e may mean `earthly child' (i.e. minor mundis) or `from the planted Word of creation'). |
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Initial DNA evidence suggests that the Plants descend largely from a single family and this does not confirm a traditional view that Plant is a "multi-origin" surname.
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The Welsh word plant means children. The early meaning of planta (Latin) and plante (Old English) was a `shoot for propagation'; and there is evidence, in Middle English and early English books, that some people took the `offshoot' meaning of plante and mapped it up the Great Chain of Being to get `offspring' for a person. In Irish and in the historic Palatine of Chester, this word had the similar meaning scion or child.
An early influence may have come in the early 12th century from Geofrey Plantegenest, whose son king Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine; Aquitaine had a tradition for courtly love; in the ninth century a new duchy of Aquitaine had been founded by Bernard Plantevelu whose name means `hairy generative shoot' which can be glossed to `manly founder'; Plantegenest means `sprig of broom' which is an instance of a hairy generative shoot.
One possibility is that the original spelling of the Plant surname did not mean `offspring'; though, in this theory, it seems that quite quickly its meaning was changed to `offspring'The original spelling of Plant may have been Plente, meaning `abundant' or `fertile', and this may have been inspired partly by impolite sense to the Plante Genest nickname. Shortly afterwards, the spelling of Plente may have been sanitised to Plante or Plonte, meaning `children'; and, still later, the Plantegenest nickname became sufficiently embellished with godly sense to make it acceptable as a royal surname.
The modern surname Plenty may also have derived from Plente. This possible theory has not yet been tested by a DNA investigation of the surname Plenty, however, to see if the Plentys belong to the same male-line family as Plant.
A more godly sense to Plantagenet can be related to `Plantagenet favoured' concepts of The Plant Soul providing collocations that relate to the implantation of seed, vertu, the Lord's creative Word, and the vegetable soul with its powers of growth and generation. A likely meaning for Plant can then be summarised as `a descended soul or descendant'.
The more specific question of `descent from whose generation' remains unanswered.This might be taken simply to imply religious `heavenly descent', since a local usage of plaunten around the main Plant homeland applied to the Lord's planted creation. However, the DNA finding that the Plants are the offspring of a single family on earth mitigates against a meaning God's children. This also makes other published opinions seem less likely.
By the later 14th century, the Plant (or Plont) surname was hereditary in its Cheshire/Staffordshire homeland and it appears to have migrated there from 13th century East Anglia. In both localities, there is evidence of a Welsh influence, as well as evidence of the surname Child: this supports the idea that Plant may truly have meant offspring throughout at least most of its formation. Instead of the previously suggested meaning young offspring as a nickname, the DNA evidence now makes it seem likely that Plant was a name of relationship literally meaning offspring from some (implied but unspecified) forefather.
The `offspring' meaning could be embellished to `illegitimate Plante Genest offspring'; but, in my opinion, there is insufficient evidence to make this anything more than a contentious claim. For further details of the debate about this long standing contentious claim, click on:In short, it is possible that there may have been some cultural influence from the Plante Genest nickname but there is no evidence that the Plants were genetically related to the Plantagenets. It is possible that the English Plants began with an `abundant' or `fertile' meaning to their name, with the spelling Plente, and that this had been influenced by a `hairy shoot' meaning to Plante Genest. Though the nature of this influence may not seem obvious, a medieval study reveals that there was a metaphysical connection, since the plant powers (i.e. vegetable soul) of a hairy shoot (Plantagenet) brought forth the plenty (Plente) of growth and offspring. Then, with the spelling Plante or Plonte, the `fertile' meaning of Plente could have been sanitised to `offspring', if that was not indeed the meaning of the Plant surname from its outset for this family.
Along with `hairy shoot' another satirical meaning of Plantagenet was cleansed, it seems. This name had a sense of base generation since, in Welsh, planta means to procreate, with similar meaning found in archaic English, and genet can mean a horse. Such a sense of bestial generation, in the common culture, evidently attained more decorum with Grosseteste's philosophy of godly creation; and this cleansing of an offensive meaning can explain the long delay before Plantagenet became accepted as a royal surname. An academic paper giving further details, including an Appendix relating to the cultural context of the Plant surname, has been published as: J.S.Plant (2007) The tardy adoption of the Plantagenet surname, Nomina, Vol 30, pp. 57-84.
A family in humble circumstanches at Kettering, bear the ancient royal name of Plantagenet, though now it is commonly corrupted to Plant. See a late number of the``Leicester Mercury.''
`The PLANTS are very numerous in the Eccleshall district (Staffordshire). The name of Plente occurred in the 13th century in Hunts and Oxfordshire. There are also now a few representatives of the name Plant in Suffolk and Shropshire.'On page 536, he attributes 0.014% of the general population in Shropshire to the Plant name, 0.060% in Staffordshire and 0.016% in Suffolk.
Plant itself is generally local (i.e. of the locative type) [John de la Plaunt, of Rouen, Pat.R.], from OF. plante, enclosure, plantation, but its occurrence in the Rolls without de [Robert Plante, Hund.R.] suggests that it was also a nickname, from ME. plant used in a variety of senses, sprig, cudgel, young offspring (see NED.).On page 268, he adds:-
Planterose [John Planterose, Hund. R.] and Pluckrose [Alan Pluckrose, ib] still exist and have plenty of medieval support; cf. Simon Schakerose (Pat.R.), Peter Porterose (ib.), Andrew Plantefene (Leic. Bor. Rec.), and Elyas Plantefolye (Fine R.). Pluckerose has a parallel in Cullpepper [Thomas Cullepeper or Colepepyr, Pat. R.] with which cf. Richard Cullebene (Hund.R.).
Reference: Dr John S. Plant (2001) Roots and Branches, Issue Number 21.
A set of possible interpretations of `Plant like' names is as follows:-
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| Plant(a/e)genet | de facto establisher lord, or a horse borne establisher, or (from the) plant-horse genera, or perhaps an implanter of ingenuity, or a corruption of `sprig of broom' |
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| Plantebene | hallowed establisher offshoot, or a pleasant establisher child, or a favour of the plant soul, or a petitioner of prayer to the Virgin Mary, or an implanter of little or nothing, or a gardener |
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| Plantefolie | wickedness offshoot, or foolishness or sinfulness establisher child, or an implanter of contrition of crime, or perhaps a foot fuller or a foal borne establisher |
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| Plente | Nature's plenty, or an imparter of plenarty of the plant soul, or a variant spelling of Plante (see below) |
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| Planterose | courtly establisher child, or an implanter of pride or praise, or an infuser of the virtue of the Virgin Mary, or a surveyor, or an establisher of land rights or order, or a gardener, or an aroused shoot, or a resurrected or ascended or elevated or grown plant soul |
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| Plantyn or Plante | Nature's child, or an implanter of the augmentative or generative powers of the plant soul, or an imparter of virtue or gallantry, or an establisher child |
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| le Plaunter | establisher, or infuser, or planter |
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| de la Plaunt | of the plant soul, or from the first principal of life |
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| Plantefene | eager or happy establisher child, or perhaps a shoot or spear lunger |
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Some early records for such `Plant like' names are as follows:-
1164 Henry II's illegitimate half brother, Hamelyn
(Plantegenet), married Isabel de Warenne and inherited the
earldom of Surrey with traditional lands in Norfolk etc. Hamelyn's offspring
may have retained interest in the Plant(a/e)genet name through
several generations though surviving primary evidence on the early usage of
this name is sparse. 1188-99 Plan' Roger de, Chester's Charters 1199 Radulphus Plantebene (Norfolk) [1 John Pipe Rolls] 1200 Radulphus Planteben' (Norfolk and Suffolk) [2 John Pipe Rolls] 1202 Henry II's youngest son, king John, captured his nephew
Arthur of Brittany at Mirebeau in the Anjou-Poitou Marches on 1st August;
and, a few weeks later, Emeric de la Planta aka de
Plant' was dispossessed of lands there in Chinon and Loud[un].
Normandy Rolls. 1209 Plantefolie Gilbert, Leic', Curia Regis 1210 Plantefene Andrew, Inhabitants of
Leicester (1103-1327).
1214 Planet' Susan de, Jelding' Kent, Curia Regis 1219 Radulphus Plente (Oxon)
Et in operatione castri de Oxon' infra idem castrum xxiij li. et
iij s. et iiij d. per breve R. et per visum Petri de Haliwell' et
Radulfi Plente. Et in reparatione domorum R. extra villam lxv s. per
breve R. et per visum eorundem. [3 Henry III Pipe Rolls] 1219 William Plente (Kent) Et de dim. m. de
Willelmo Plente pro panno vendito contra assisam. [3 Henry III Pipe
Rolls] 1220 Plantan' William, Suff', Curia Regis 1221 Planetis Ralph de, Kent, Curia Regis 1226 Plantefolie John, Somerset, Curia Regis 1230 Planterose Robert, Warr' Wigorn', Curia Regis 1230 Simon Plente
(York) Et de dim. m. de Willelmo filio Ailredi
et Simone Plente pro eodem. (By reference back to the preceding records
eodem equates to dissaisina.) [14 Henry III Pipe Rolls] 1230-1 Radulphus Plente [ A cartulary of the Hospitals of St John the
Baptist, ed H.E.Slater (1914) in Oxford Historical Society
Publications 68, 202] 1254 Plantin Roger, serjent of E. of Norfolk, Close Rolls 1258 Plantyn Roger, butler of E. of Norfolk, Close Rolls 1258 Plantyn Roger, lands in Norfolk, Patent Rolls 1262 Plaunte William, Essex, Forest Pleas 1263 Plauntefolie Maud, Weston', Close Rolls 1266 Plauntegenet Galfrido, serjent at arms,
Wodestock, Close Rolls 1267 Ph'us filius Elye Plauntefolye, Nottingham. Fine
Rolls 1268 Planteng' Roger, Guldeford' Norff', Close Rolls 1270 Plantefolie Adam, Welle Fanerwal' (co. York), Close Rolls 1272 Symon Plente [Feet Fines Oxf. in Oxfordshire Record Society:
Record Series (Oxford, 1919-) 12, 200] 1272-84 William Plente (and then his widow Gerbergia) of Ormesby
(Norfolk) --- charter for piece of land at Hemesby [Norwich Cathedral
Charters] 1273 de la Plaunt and Plaunt, 3 Rouen merchants, Patent
Rolls 1275 Plauntes William, Norfolk, Rotuli Hundrederum 1279 Plante William, Cambridge, Rotuli Hundrederum c1280-1303 Robert Plonte, of Saltford, once
bailif of Marsfelde [Bath BC 151/4/14, 151/4/15]
1282 de Plantes Henry, appeal in Huntingdonshire, Patent
Rolls 1285 Plauntain Henry, Patent Rolls 1301 Plant Richard, rights to coal, Ewelowe near Chester, Flint
[Pipe Rolls Cheshire in LCRS
92, 205] 1303 Johannes Plonte [S.L.Thrupp and H.B.Johnson (1964)
The earliest Canterbury freeman's rolls 1298-1363 in Kent Records
(Ashford, 1912-) Kent Archaeological Society 18 181] 1307-26 Matillide Plente, Bosham.
[Register of Bishop Walter de Stapeldon of Exeter, concerning Clerks
and Clergy of Cornwall and Devon, 1307-26, p 56] 1310 Johannes Planterose [Two Bedfordshire subsidy listings ed
S.H.A.Hervey (1925) Suffolk Green Books 18 87] 1328 Thomas Plonte and Robert his son [Bath
BC 151/3/55] 1329 Robert Plonte son of Walter
Plonte [Bath BC 151/2/46, 151/2/47] 1340 Robert son of Thomas
Plonte [Bath BC 151/3/56] 1340-49 Robert
Plonte [Bath BC 151/2/27, 151/2/28, 151/2/48, 151/2/25,
151/6/70, 151/5/90] 1341 le Plaunter Henry, Cambridge-Huntingdon border dispute,
Patent Rolls 1342 Plente Walter, Exeter co. Devon, Patent Rolls 1343 Plente John, messuage of land, vicar of the cathedral church
of Chichester, Patent Rolls 1343 Plente John, witness at Theydene Boys on release of claim
to lands in Theden Boys, Close Rolls 1344 Plant John, son of Alan, of Burgh Marsh co. Lincoln, Patent
Rolls 1345, 1346 acolite Walter Plente
[Register of Bishop John de Trillek of Hereford, Clerks and Clergy of
Herrefordshire, Shropshire and Gloucestershire, pp. 419, 431] 1348 At Prestbury, Walter, son of William
Plente of Bishop's Castle [Register of Bishop John de
Trillek of Hereford, p. 399] 1349 mention of tenement of John
Plonte [Bath BC 151/2/42] 1349 sub-deacon Walter son of John Plente;
deacon Walter Plente [Register of Bishop John de
Trillek of Hereford, pp. 486, 491] 1350 presbiter Walter Plente de Castro
episc., ad ti. domus de Sandone [Register of Bishop John de
Trillek of Hereford, p. 543] 1352 Plant James, and others carried away goods at Welles,
Warham and Styvekey co. Norfolk, Patent Rolls c1360 mention of land of Walter
Plonte [Bath BC 151/2/38] 1364 Plente Roger of Exeter, license to take 20 packs of large
cloth of divers colours from port of Exeter to Gascony, Spain, and other
parts beyond seas; and to return with wine and other merchandise to the
ports of London, Suthampton, Sandwich or Exeter,
Patent Rolls 1364 Plente Roger, right to be collector of customs at Exeter,
Fine Rolls 1364 Plente Roger, searcher of gold and silver exported without
license in the county of Devon, assault on, Patent Rolls 1365 Plente Roger, merchant of Exeter, his ship `le Ceorge' of
Exmouth, Patent Rolls 1367 Plente Roger, king's minister in Devon, Patent Rolls 1368 Plente Roger, collector of customs in port of Exeter,
Patent Rolls 1386 Plente Reynold, rights to yearly rent had been granted by
William Botreaux, knight, the elder, Inquisition at Launceston Cornwall 1386 Plonte William, chaplain (land of prior and convent of
Bath), rent in Olveston, Patent Rolls 1393 Plente Reynold, granted rent of 40s for life, Cornwall,
Close Rolls 1394 Pleyntif Richard, Somerset, Patent Rolls 1394 Plaint John, aged 60 years or more, witness at Lincoln
to proof of age of John of Gaunt's mistress's husband's son - John
Plaint had
been servant to Master Thomas de Sutton, Calendar of
Inquisitions
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