What does my last name mean? Payne, where do they come from and what did they do

Question:

What does my last name mean? Payne, where do they come from and what did they do?

and how come I am so handsome?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Citation from "The Dictionary of English Surnames" by Reaney & Wilson, Oxford University Press, 1995:

Pain, Paine, Paines, Pane, Panes, Payan, Payen, Payn, Payne, Paynes, Pagan, Pagon, FiztPayn:

Earliest reference: Edmund filis Pagen, 1086, from the Domesday Book, Somerset

[R&W list 12 other examples from 11th to 13th centuries; I'm not listing them here, for reasons of space.]

Derived from Old French "Paien", from the Latin, "paganus" which originally meant "villager", "rustic" and later "heathen". Lebel explains this as a name given to children whose baptism had been postponed. Dauzat preferes to regard it as a derogatory term applied to adults whose religious zeal was not what it should be. Randulfus filius Pagani is also called Randulfus Paganus and Randulfus Paganel already in 1086, that is as son of Paganus he had adopted his father's christian name as his surname, "Paganel" means "little Payn", distinguishing him from his father. In the 12th and 13th centuries "Payn" was a very common christian name, and was, no doubt, given without any thought of its meaning. The surname is probably always patronymic.

[Notes: "Lebel" referes to the author of "Les Nomes de Personnes en France", Paris, 1946. and "Dauzat" referes to the author of "Dictionnaire etymologique des noes de familles et prenoms de France", Paris 1945.]