In Belgium and the Netherlands you can also find the the name PIEN, even VANDEPIENE. Maybe the name Pien in Germany is coming from the name of the river PEENE near PEENEMüNDE. The original name off the family in France is DE PIENNES. This family is related with the family "de Saint-Omer". Guilliaume de Saint-Omer is the lord off Piennes and the ancestor off the family Peene in Belgium, the Netherlands and Great-Brittain. I can't prove that Huges de PAYEN(de PAYNE) and Godfrey de Saint-Omer are from the same family. Between the 11th and the 16th century we find a lot off different spellings off the name in Flanders (de piennes, peene, pene, vanpeene, dupeene, vandepeene, pain, payne, pein, pine, pain). In the area off Ypres the prononiciation off "PEENE" is "Piènne". I pronounce the "EE" like in the french word "Thé" (I don't think there's an English word that gives the same prononciation, every word with "EE" in English I know is pronounced "IE". The name PEENE was in the 12th century a global name for 'river'. That's the reason why you find the name in Germany, France, Norway. Maybe there was also a river Peene in Kent (UK) because we find there also the village PEENE near Folkestone. More information (in Flemisch and English) http://come.to/peene --- Werner Peene Tempelierstraat 15 B-8470 GISTEL http://come.to/peene