Each family connects hundreds of people to form an intricate pattern of ancestors and descendants. Our origins span the world, our families come from all religions and ways of life. The common thread of Heraldry links many cultures and establishes the foundations of a Surname before words were a common understanding and images demonstrated a basic understanding to the populace.
This page represents the following Surnames: Bentley.
Heraldry for every family is represented on each page as it has become available through out our research, as a tribute to the historical and evolutionary process that each family has survived. Name definitions are provided for each family as we find a connection to them, through intermarriage or discovery. Scottish, English and Irish families are represented with tartans, badges and other memorabilia as it becomes available to us. We’ve worked very hard at finding the most accurate and appropriate connections for each surname, if you see an error or have more information to add, please contact us via e-mail at CSGS@SnowStones.com.
Bentley Name Meaning
‘Person from Bentley’ then name of numerous places in England, ‘Glade where rough grass grows’.
Bentley Name Meaning and History
English: habitational name from any of various places, the chief of which are in Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and East and South Yorkshire. The place name is from Old English beonet ‘bent grass’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’.
Probably an Americanized spelling of Swiss Bandle or Bandli or German Bentele, all short forms of the medieval personal name Pantaleon.
Pantaleo Name Meaning and History
Italian: from a personal name, Greek Pantaleon, from pas ‘all’ (genitive pantos) + leon ‘lion’. In the altered form Panteleemon (from pas ‘all’ (genitive pantos) + eleemon ‘merciful’), it was the name borne by a saint said to have been martyred under Diocletian Nicomedia. He is the patron of physicians, having apparently been one himself. He was honored in the Eastern Church as early as the 5th century, but his cult did not reach the Western Church until the 11th century, when he was adopted as the patron saint of Venice. In the 14th century the Italian name Pantaleone came to be used for a character in the Harlequinade, a foolish old Venetian, and in some later cases the surname may have arisen as a nickname for someone who played the part of this character. It was from his prototypical costume that the term pantaloon came to be used to denote a type of loose-fitting breeches, whence the modern English word pants.
Family Motto: ‘Vive Ut Vivas’ (Live That You May Live Forever)
Family Crest: 
Surname References from:
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Encyclopedia of Surnames, John Ayto, A & C Black Publishers Ltd, ISBN 978 0 7136 8144 4
(Unless otherwise stated)