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PENNING Family History

This interesting surname recorded in the spellings of Penney, Penny, Penning, and the patronymic Pennings, is of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is generally considered to be a nickname from the coin, itself deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "pening, penig", and the Middle English "peni" meaning penny. The penny was the common Germanic unit of value when money was still an unusual phenomenon, and by no means denoted a coin of little value, as it does today. It was the only unit of coinage in England until the early 14th Century when the groat and the gold noble were introduced.