Pilkington
A Lancashire place-name surname meaning “the estate or settlement of Piloc’s people,” later borne by an old landed family.
The #7,660 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 71,205 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Pilkington is a habitational surname from Pilkington in Lancashire. The oldest explanation in the sources breaks the place-name into an early personal name, probably Piloc, plus Old English elements meaning “people/descendants” and “farmstead, settlement,” giving the sense of “the estate of Piloc’s people.” That makes the surname essentially locational: people took the name from the place where they lived or held land.
History
The name is associated with an old Lancashire family recorded in medieval documents, and later writers treated it as one of the county’s ancient gentry surnames. It also spread into Yorkshire and Ireland, where cadet branches are noted in the historical sources. The spelling has varied over time, with forms such as Pilkinton and Pylkyngton appearing in early records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A noted member of the family, James Pilkington, became Bishop of Durham in the 16th century.
From the historical record
“PILKINGTON (Eng.) Bel. to Pilkington , (L^ncs), A.H. 1212 PilMntoii, i2ifi Pilkiiig- ton, 1319 Pylkyngton; A.-Sax. *Pilocinga-tun = the EsTATfe of the Piloc Family [the pers. name is prob. the O.E. pil (Lat. ptl- um), a spike, dart, with the dim. suff. -oc {-uc) + -inga, genit. pi. of the fil. suff. -ing -1- <««…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)