Penner
An English surname that likely began as an occupational name for someone who penned or impounded animals.
The #6,363 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 57,720 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation links Penner to Middle English pen(n) and Old English penn, meaning an enclosure, pen, or fold for animals, plus the agent suffix -er. In that sense, a penner was someone who penned or kept animals in a fold, rather than a writer with a pen. Some 19th-century writers also treated it as a related form of pinder, an officer who impounded stray livestock.
History
The name is recorded in medieval England, including a 1327 Subsidy Roll form John le Penner in Somerset. It appears in later medieval records as well, showing that it was established as a surname by the 14th century. Although later surname books sometimes grouped it with other 'pen-' names, the occupational explanation for animal pens is the most consistent historical reading.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older sources explicitly reject the idea that this surname meant a maker of writing pens.
From the historical record
“Pinnell, q.v. PENNER (Eng.) One Who Pens Animals [f. M.E. pen(n, O.E. penn, a pen, enclo- sure ; with the agent, suff. -er] John le Penner. — ■ Subsidy-Roll (Soms.), A.D. 1327. There is no evidence that this name ever denoted a maker of writing-peiis. Cp.,Pinner.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)