Origin
Pin : 1: French: from Old French pin ‘pine’ (from Latin pinus) a topographic name for someone living by a prominent pine tree or a habitational name from a place called with this word. Compare Dupin.2: Dutch: from Middle Dutch pinne ‘(wooden or iron) pin peg’ probably a metonymic occupational name for a craftsman using pins and pegs.3: Altered form of French Pain 2.4: English: variant of Pinn.5: Cambodian: written ពិន corresponding to the Khmer word meaning e.g. ‘supreme’. It may also be of Chinese origin (possibly corresponding to one of the surnames below).6: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surnames 卞 and 邊 see Bian 1 and 2.7: Chinese: alternative Mandarin form of the surname 賓 see Bin 1.
Burkett : 1: English: from an Old English personal name Burgheard composed of the elements burh burg ‘fort’ (see Burke) + heard ‘hardy brave strong’. The name was reintroduced into Middle English by the Normans in the forms Bou(r)chart Bocard.2: English: possibly also from a Middle English personal name Burcard Burchard (Norman Burcard Old French Burchard) which was imported by the Normans and derives from ancient Germanic Burghard (in the form Burkhard this was a very popular medieval German name; see Burkhart) cognate with the Old English name above. In France this gives rise to the surname Bouchard Bouchart but evidence for its use in Norman England is difficult to pin down and modern surnames in Burch- often have a different origin altogether.3: English: variant of Birkett a spelling commonly found in northern England.4: Americanized form of German Burkhart.
Dowler : 1: English (West Midlands): occupational name for a maker of felloes (wooden wheel rims) from a derivative of Middle English doule deul dul ‘felloe’ probably a borrowing of Old French do(u)ele ‘stave (of a barrel)’ and applied to the curved pieces of wood that form the circular rim of a wheel. Modern English dowel ‘headless pin peg or bolt’ may be the same word but this sense is not recorded in Middle English.2: Irish (Leitrim): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dalachair ‘descendant of Dalachair’ from a personal name possibly meaning ‘lover of assemblies’ (dál). It was also Anglicized as Dallagher.
Dupin : 2: Altered form of French Jupin.1: French: topographic name from Old French pin ‘pine’ (see Pin) with fused preposition and definite article du ‘from the’ or a habitational name for someone from any of the numerous minor places called Le Pin.
Fitch : English:: 1: from Old French fiche perhaps ‘pointed implement for fixing or transfixing something or someone’ (such as a lance?) a derivative of Old French fichier ‘to fix fasten pin on stick into pierce’. Compare Modern French fiche ‘peg pin’. Reaney remarks that ‘as Hugh Malet is said to have abandoned for a time his nickname ‘little hammer’ in favor of Fichet (see Mallet) fiche must have been used of a pointed weapon a spear or lance and Fitch and Fitchett (see Fitchett) of a spearman or a knight famous for his exploits with the lance’. Use of Fiche as a personal name is possibly implied by diminutive personal name forms such as Fechet (see Fitchett) and Fechel attested in Fechel de Fercalahn 1225–50. The latter is perhaps the source of the now extinct English surname Fetchell.2: occasionally a variant of Fitz.
In : 1: Chinese: variant of Yin.2: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 阮 see Ruan 3.3: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 袁 see Yuan 1.4: Korean: name of a family that migrated from China to Korea during the reign of Shilla's 3rd-century king Sŏk Yu-rye (284–98). The founding ancestor In So established a clan seat in the Kyodong area of Chŏlla North Province. Another clan seat was subsequently established by his descendent In Pin during the Koryŏ period. The surname is not common in Korea.5: Cambodian: written អ៊ិន unexplained.
Maupin : French: topographic name from Old French mal mau ‘bad’ + pin ‘pine (tree)’. Compare Moppin.
Piening : German: nickname for a tormenter or an occupational name for a torturer or executioner from a derivative of Middle Low German Middle High German pīn ‘pain torture punishment’.
Pinard : French:: 1: nickname from Old French pinard a small medieval coin so named from pin ‘pine’ because it bore the device of a pine cone.2: habitational name from Pinard the name of several places in various parts of France named from pin ‘pine’.
Pine : 1: English: from Middle English pin(e) (Old English pīn Old French pin) a topographic name for someone who lived by a conspicuous pine tree or in a pine forest; in some cases it may originally have been a nickname for a tall man one thought to resemble a pine tree.2: English: nickname from Middle English pine ‘pain injury torture punishment infirmity’ referring to someone who suffered from an inflicted pain or punishment.3: English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Le Pin in Calvados or some other French place called from a prominent pine.4: Americanized form of German Peine.5: French: from the feminine form of Pin ‘pine’ a cognate of 1 above. This surname is rare in France; in North America it may thus (also) be an altered form of some other similar (like-sounding) French surname.
Pineau : French: topographic name from a diminutive of pin ‘pine’ (see Pin) or a habitational name from (Le) Pineau the name of several places in the western part of France of the same origin. Compare Pinault Pineault Pineo and Pinneo.
Pinhorn : from a Middle English compound of uncertain meaning. The first element looks like Middle English pin ‘pin peg nail brooch; penis; something small and worthless’ or possibly Middle English pinen ‘to torment’ or Middle English pin(n)en ‘to pin fasten keep confined’. The second element is Middle English horn ‘animal horn drinking horn; horned cattle; the supposed horn of a cuckold; a finger- or toe-nail; something horn-shaped or projecting’. For possible slang senses of horn in Middle English surnames such as ‘head’ ‘penis’ and ‘nose’ see Whitehorn. Perhaps Pinhorn named someone with a small head but this sense of horn is otherwise unknown in English.
Pinn : 1: English and German: metonymic occupational name for a maker of pins or pegs from Middle English pin Middle Low German pin(ne) ‘pin peg’. In some cases the German name was a metonymic occupational name for a shoemaker. See Pinner 1.2: English (Devon): habitational name from a place called with Old English penn ‘hill hill top’ a borrowing of Brittonic penn ‘head(land)’ e.g. Pinn Pinn Court Farm or Pin Hill Farm all in Devon.3: English (Devon): variant of Pine or Penn.
Preen : from Church Preen (Shrops) which is recorded as Prene in 1086 Prona in 1255 and Preone in about 1291. The place-name derives from Old English prēon ‘pin clasp’ which according to Place-Names of Shrops was ‘presumably used of some as yet unidentified landscape feature’.occasionally perhaps from Middle English prene ‘pin clasp’ (Old English prēon) perhaps for a tall thin person with a small head or for one who wore a distinctive pin or brooch or who made or sold such items.
Spingola : Italian (southern): from spingola denoting a type of brooch or pin hence an occupational name for a jeweler or a nickname for someone who wore such a brooch.
Whitehorn : English (southern): nickname from a Middle English compound of uncertain meaning. The first element is Middle English whit ‘white fair or comely’ and the second is Middle English horn which had many senses: ‘horn of an animal; drinking horn; the supposed horn of a cuckold; fingernail or toe-nail’. Compare the English name Pinhorn where the first element is probably Middle English pin ‘pin something small or worthless’. Seltén suggests that horn in compounds like these denotes ‘head’. Whitehorn might have denoted someone with a white head of hair but this sense of horn is otherwise unknown in English. The name has nothing to do with the town of Whithorn in Wigtownshire Scotland though it might in theory represent an unidentified placename or place description of the same origin from Old English hwīt ‘white’ + ærn ‘building’.
Witherby : 1: variant of Weatherby (1) but some early bearers in SE England could alternatively belong at (2). 2: in E Anglia perhaps an altered form of the Middle English surname Witherpin attested in Norfolk since the 13th century and later re-interpreted as a locative name ending in -by. Witherpin appears to consist of Middle English witheren ‘to resist’ wither ‘hostility violence; adversity combat battle’ or wither ‘opposite adverse fierce hostile contrary’ + Middle English pin ‘pin peg (of wood or metal) nail bolt spike’. The sense of the compound is unclear but compare Witherspoon which apparently originated as a name for a quarrelsome person.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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