- Pilat
Pilat is a common surname in
Central Europe . [ [http://www.namestatistics.com/search.php?name=Pilat Name Statistics "Pilat is the #45896 most common last name. 0.0005% of last names in the US are Pilat. Around 1250 US last names are Pilat," website] accessed 22 August 2007.] It is spelled simply "Pilat" in Western countries such as France and Austria, "Pilát" in Czech and Slovak, and "Piłat" in Polish. This may refer to individuals bearing the last name or the name itself.The Southeast corner of Poland appears to be an ancestral heartland, with
Lublin boasting a large number of the nearly 6,879 Poles sharing the surname. There are two different Piłatka localities in theMazowsze andLublin regions.It is also the name of a natural park near
Lyon inFrance .Origin
*German: from the Saxon word for 'strong sword', or bilihart. (Bihel = sword or ax.)
*French: habitational name from Pilat inGironde ,The Great Dune of Pyla in LaCôte-d'Or , and Le Mont Pilat inLoire . The name is believed to be derived by one of two tribes of Celtic peoples - the Séguisaves and Allobroges in whose language "Pi-" = mount and "-lat" = broad. [ [http://perso.orange.fr/associations.pelussin/pilat/pilat_histoire_pelussin.html Le Pilat et Pélussin Histoire sur www.infopilat.net, website] accessed 22 August 2007.]
*Italian: in ancientRome , a "pilum" was a throwing spear carried by the legionnaires. Another theory of Pilate's origin is that he belonged to the Equestrian class of people. [ [http://www.bible-history.com/pontius_pilate/pilateInternational_Standard_Bible_Enc.htm Pontius Pilate - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia "Probably the name was one that had descended to Pilate from his ancestors, and had long lost its meaning," website] accessed 22 August 2007.]
*Slavic (Czech, Slovak and Polish): an individual acting/portraying the character ofPilate , particularly in a Passion play. A popular misconception is that, spelling differences aside, the historical figure of Pontius Pilate is somehow the progenitor of this last name. In actuality, he hailed from a Roman tribe properly called the "Pontii." [ [http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&ln=Pilat&fn=&yr=1920 Last Name Meaning and Origin of Pilat, website] accessed 22 August 2007.]Derivations
*Pilato
*Pilatowski
*Pilatou
*Pilatus
*PilatzBucket shops purporting to sell Pilat 'family coats of arms' (a fallacy in terms) often draw spurious connections to those escutcheons (and histories) properly belonging to the countly Pielat, Pilati or
Pillot families ofthe Netherlands ,Austria andFrance , respectively.Notable Personalities
The surname Pilat was noted by historiographer/sociologist
Jan Stanislaw Bystron as a noble one, particularly marked by achievements in poetry and prose:"...Perka, Piłat, Zajączek, Nagora, Nycz, Kromer,
"Misztołd, Myszka, Piwo, Narbut, Pszonka, Romer;
"Koc, Górka, Kadłubek, Pac i Pasek z Łozą,
"Tych ród zacny i wierszem sławiono, i prozą." [ [http://www.herb.szwarc.pl/strona8.html Jan Stanisław Bystroń, Nazwiska polskie, p. 292, website] accessed 22 October 2007.]*
Andrzej Piłat is the current Polish minister of infrastructure of the SLD (Democratic Left Alliance) - from Płock.
*Bill Pilat is a lacrosse coach at Roanoke College, with the winningest record at Roanoke College.
*Corrado Pilat is an Italian rugby union player.
*Dirk Pilat is the Senior Economist at the OECD originally born and educated in The Netherlands.
*Ignaz Anton Pilat was the landscape architect for Frederick Law Olmsted to Central Park and an Austrian emigré.
*Jozef Anton Edler von Pilat was the private secretary to Prinz Klemenz von Metternich.
*Julia Pilat is an upstate New York public school teacher previously featured in US Army television commercials.
*Lorenzo Pilat is an Italian composer and singer, as well as previous collaborator with Tom Jones.
*Ludmilla Pilat-Welch was an early American painter and also an Austrian émigré.
*Oliver Ramsay Pilat was a newspaper man (NY Post) & author.
*Richard Pilat is a Swedish classical pianist.
*Stanisław Piłat was head of the Institute of Technology of Petroleum and Natural Gases and patentholder at Lviv University, Ukraine who was killed by the Nazi secret police during WWII.
*Tadeusz Piłat was an author and historian of Poland and the father of Stanisław.
*Vaclav Pilàt was a Czech national who flew in WWI for the Austro-Hungarian air force.External links
* [http://www.parc-naturel-pilat.fr Pilat National Park in Loire]
* [http://pilat.oueb.free.fr Pilat Oueb: Website specialized in leisures in the Pilat]References
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