Family name origins & meanings
- English : nickname, possibly for a small person, from Middle English pink, penk ‘minnow’ (Old English pinc).
- English (southeastern) : variant of Pinch.
- Variant spelling of German Pinck, an indirect occupational name for a blacksmith, an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of hammering which was perceived as pink(e)pank.
- German (of Slavic origin) : from a diminutive of Sorbian pien ‘log’, ‘tree stump’, hence probably a nickname for a solid or stubby person.