Pender
An English surname that likely began as a nickname or occupational name linked to a pinder, or possibly to an old Anglo-Saxon compound meaning “army-guard.”
The #5,485 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,698 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Pender is explained in historical sources in more than one way. One line of explanation connects it with Old English Pendhere, analyzed as pend- plus here, “army,” though the first element is obscure and the derivation is not certain. Another, and probably more practical, explanation treats Pender as a variant of Pinder, the keeper of a pound or pinfold for stray animals.
History
Lower classed Pender under names connected with Pendre, while Harrison explicitly links it with Pendhere and also notes it as a form of Pinder. The surname appears in medieval records as Pendere and related spellings, and later turned up in English county records and place-name-linked surname lists. Because the evidence points in more than one direction, the name is best treated as having an uncertain but distinctly English history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers also grouped Pender with a cluster of “Pen-” names, which shows how easily it could be pulled between place-name and occupational explanations.
From the historical record
“q.v. PENDER (Eng.) \ the A.-Sax. Pendhere [v. under Pend(e)gast, and + O.E. here, army] 2 a var. of Pinder, q.v. William le Pendere. — Mun. Gildh. Land. PENDERGAST PENDERGEST PENDERGRASS PENDERGRAST PENDLE. Bel. to Pendle(Hill) (Lanes), A.D. 1294 PennetAlle, 14th cent. Penhil, Penhul”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)