Origin of the Name Pinkerton
The origin of the name
Pinkerton was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Pinkerton is often of Anglo and Scottish oring, one of its origns being from the barony of Pinkerton in East Lothian in Scotland . It can alos be derived form 'Ponte-Cardon' in Normandy, revealing its Norman origins. Variants of this anceint name include Punchard, Puncher, Pinchard, Pinkertan and it is found in many ancient manuscripts. Examples of such are an Olyver de Punchardon of County Devonshire, who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England , in the year 1273. A William Lake and Susanna Pinkerton were recorded as having been married in Saint George, Hanover Square, in the year 1752. A Nicol de Pynkertune is recorded as having signed documents of allegiance to John Balliol, King of the Scots in the thirteenth century.
Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by creating, maintaining and updating these reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Pinkerton coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Pinkerton descendants.