Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish : habitational name from the place so called in Fife, of Pictish-Gaelic origin.
- The first warring shot of the American Revolution was fired by Major John Pitcairn (1722–75) of the Royal Marines at the battle of Lexington and Concord (1775). His son, Robert Pitcairn (?1747–70), was the first to sight the South Pacific island of this name while serving in the Royal Navy, in 1767.