More specifically, Y-DNA testing has made it clear that today, 45% of the P-rr-tts in North America trace back to just 4 of the original immigrant families from the 1600s: William of Talbot Co. (family #012), Richard Perrott of Middlesex Co.(#064), Lawrence Perrott of Gloucester/Mathews Co. (#062), and Francis Parrott from North Carolina (#046).

Another 12% of Parrotts today come from the families of Frederick Parrott of Shenandoah Co. (#061), Needham Perrit from the Carolinas (#063), and Albert Parot (#002) from the Northeast-- the three largest of the families that originated in the 1700s.

Said a different way, ~57% of Parrotts in the USA belong to 1 of 7 families. That means that all the other Parrott families in the USA have far fewer descendants.

Numerous African-American families began to appear after the Civil War, though these have remained small. In addition, there has been a steady stream of P-rr-tt families arriving from England, France, and a few other countries. As of the end of 2024, 137 individual P-rr-tt men have been identified who immigrated to the Colonies or the United States and started families. The assumption is that many of these will turn out to be related to each other once they get Y-DNA tested.

1600s:
The first P-rr-tt families settled in the Colonies in the 1600s. Though these families only make up for 5% of the USA Parrott families, their descendants account for 45% of living Parrotts in the USA today. At least 6 families are known to have become established during this period, 2 in the North (#024 and #031), and 4 in the South (#012, #046, #062 & #064). It is evident from the records that several other P-rr-tts visited the colonies, but there is no evidence any of them established families. Two of the Southern families became gigantic. Today, the descendants of family #064 (Richard descendants) make up 24% of all the Parr-tts living in the USA, while those of family #062 (Lawrence descendants) make up 13%. Two other families - family #012 (William descendants) and family #046 (Francis descendants) - also became very large, but not as large as the giant families, and today each accounts for 4% of living Parrotts in the USA. The two northern lines (#024 and #031) from this period have remained small, with each accounting for fewer tha 1% of living Parrotts.

1700s:
Some 16 families arrived in the 1700s, and collectively they account for 20% of P-rr-tts in the US today. The family of Frederick (family #061) is the largest of the group, and makes up some 6% of living P-rr-tts, followed by the Needham group (family #063) at 4%. A group out of Granville, North Carolina (family #060), has become large in recent years and also comes in at 2%. In the North, the family of Albert Parot, a French Canadian whose descendants settled in New York and Vermont (#002) also comes in at 2% of living P-rr-tts.

1800s:
The 1800s saw a large increase in immigration. There are 42 known families from Europe that arrived during this century. In addition, at least 37 African-American families appeared after the Civil War. These African-American Parrott families only account for just 5% of living Parrots in the USA; most are small and notoriously poorly documented, and only one of these lines has been Y-DNA tested. Collectively, the these two European and African groups account for 61% of all USA Parrott families, but just 20% of today's USA population of people surnamed P-rr-tt. Only nine of these 79 families reach the 1% threshold.

In addition, several orphan branches appear during this time-- these are families with enough information to determine that they are not derived from new immigrants, but not enough information to place them in their proper family. There are at least 26 such families at the present time.

1900s:
The 1900's saw a marked decline in immigration. Although some 17 families are currently known to have arrived, they only make up 13% of P-rr-tt families in the USA and less than 2% of living P-rr-tts.

These statistics will change as more information comes in. It is almost certain that many of the families tabulated as separate groups will be shown to belong to the same family as more paper records are found or more Y-DNA results come in.

How many P-rr-tt families are in North America today? There are still some 90 lines that are Y-DNA un-tested, and this number will undoubtedly coalesce into fewer but larger families as more families get tested. Still, as many as 60 different families is a rough guesstimate. What is certain is that the era when P-rr-tts were considered to be 'Kinsmen all,' as proclaimed in Links that Bind, is long over.

The Great Myths on P-rr-tt family origins:

The main source for this belief was a 1653 account by Sir Robert Naunton (husband of Sir John's granddaughter, Penelope), who had never known Sir John Perrot and used second-hand accounts to make his case (Turvey 2005). The argument that Sir John was the son of Henry VIII falls further apart when one considers the fact that he was Mary Berkeley and Sir Thomas' third child, not their first, and that she and the King are not recorded to have been in the same place during the time period when Sir John would have been conceived.