This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Punchardon.' Mr. Lower says, 'We search in vain the gazetteers of England and Scotland for any locality bearing the designation of Pinkerton.' He declares that it is a corruption of Punchardon, and asserts that Punchardon is found as Pynkerton in Ragman Roll, A.D. 1296 (Patronymica Britannica). I doubt not he is right. It is believed that Punchardon is the place now called Pont-Chardon, in the arrondissement of Argentan, Normandy. In Domesday the surname is found as Ponte-Cardon. We may take it therefore that the family came into England at the Conquest (v. Patronymica Britannica).

Olyver de Punchardon, Devon, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Eudo de Punchardon, Yorkshire, ibid.

Robert de Punchardun, Devon, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

1752. Married — William Lake and Susanna Pinkerton: St. George, Hanover Square.

From the old barony of the same name near Dunbar, East Lothian. Nicol de Pynkertone of Haddingtonshire rendered homage in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 210). His seal shows a mastiff barking, a rose above, S' Nicolai de Pincriton (ibid., p. 544). Patrick de Penkerton had protection for ayear in England in 1396 (ibid., IV, 484). The name was not uncommon on the West Coast in the sixteenth century and earlier. The tenement of John Pinkerton in Glasgow is mentioned in 1494 (REG., 469), and a resignation of property in favor of Felicia Pyncartoun in Glasgow is recorded in 1552 (Protocols, I). John Pynkertoun rendered to Exchequer the accounts of the bailies of Rutherglen, 1559, and Malcolm Pincartoun rendered the accounts of the same burgh in 1566 (ER., XIX, p. 89,325). The barony of Pinkerton was granted to the first earl of Argyll in 1483 on the forfeiture of Albany. John Pinkerton (1758-1826), the historian, is the best known of the name. Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884), the famous American detective, was born in Glasgow. Pincartone 1707, Pincartoune 1540, Pinkartoun 1677, Pinkcartoune 1648, Pinkertoune 1668, Pyncartoune 1533.

A doubtful name. Lower (‘Patronymica Brit.’) says that Pynkerton occurs in the Ragman Roll, A.D. 1296, and that it is a corrupt form of Punchardon, which is found, by the way, in the Yorkshire and Devonshire Hundred-Rolls. This is not very likely. Punchardon evid. represents the Orne place-name Pontchardon [French pont, bridge; chardon, thistle, spike]. In my opinion, Pinkerton is an obscure or lost Scottish enclosure-name, the pers. name perhaps being the French Pingard, if not the Anglo-Saxon Pinca. If, however, the -ton is not the Middle English -ton, tun, an enclosure, the name may represent—with intruded -r--the French Pingueton, a double diminutive pers. name from Latin pingu-is, fat.

(Scottish) One who came from the old barony of Pinkerton, in East Lothian.

We search in vain the Gazetteers of England and of Scotland, for any locality bearing this designation; yet the surname is local, being a corruption of the Punchardon, or Pincherdon, of the so-called Battel Abbey Roll, and the Ponte-Cardon of Domesday Book, which is derived from the place now known as Pont-Chardon, near Argentan, in Normandy. The name passed early into Scotland, and in Ragman Roll, A.D. 1296, it is written Pynkerton. It is uncommon in England, but more frequently to be met with in Scotland and in the North of Ireland, to which last-named country it was introduced by Scottish colonists.

For Punchardon or Pont Cardon (Lower). William and Robert de Ponte Cardun, Normandy 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Pontcardon was near Neaufle, Normandy. Robert de Pontcardon 1083 held lands in Devon from Baldwin the Viscount (Exon. Domesd. 277, &c.) In 1165 William de P. held four fees in Devon, and two in Somerset, and Roger de P. held in Lincoln, and Matthew de P. in York or Northumberland (Lib. Niger). In 1216 the estates of Sir William Pontcardon at Aureville, Avesnes, and St. German, Roche, and Cetrentost, were granted to another by Philip Augustus, probably as an adherent of King John (MSAN. xv. 156).

From Punchardon or Pincherdon; a location name in Normandy (?).

Pinkerton: is from Pontchardon.