Pinckney
An English surname usually understood as a spelling variant of Pinkney, itself tied to the old occupational word pinder.
The #5,147 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,404 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most historical sources treat Pinckney as a variant spelling of Pinkney, and that name is commonly connected with Pinder/Pindar, the manorial officer who impounded stray animals. The root is the Middle English verb pind, meaning to shut up or impound. In this sense, the surname began as a job-name for someone associated with controlling wandering livestock.
History
The name appears in English records in medieval and post-Conquest forms, and later spelling variation produced Pinkney, Pinckney, and related forms. Nineteenth-century surname writers also connected the name with Norman or French-looking forms such as de Pincheni, but they treated this derivation cautiously. In modern usage, Pinckney survives mainly in the English-speaking world, especially the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same occupational root appears in the Robin Hood tradition: the “Pinder of Wakefield” is a famous figure from the ballads.
From the historical record
“Anc. Chans. Norm.; Moisy. PINCKNEY, V, Pinkney. p'i:S^^} = >°""''en,q.v. Walter le Pinder. — Hund. Rolls. ' The Pindar (or Pinder) of Wakefield ' (Georg^ a Green) is the subject of one of the Robin Hood ballads. She doth not only think of lusty Robin Hood,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)