Pilgrim Family History

English (East Anglia) and German: from Middle English pilegrim, pelgrim, Middle High German bilgerin, pilgerin ‘pilgrim’ (Latin peregrinus, pelegrinus ‘traveler’), a nickname for a person who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land or to some seat of devotion nearer home, such as Santiago de Compostella, Rome, or Canterbury. Such pilgrimages were often imposed as penances, graver sins requiring more arduous journeys. In both England and Germany Pilgrim was occasionally used as a personal name, from which the surname could also have arisen.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press