# Pinkerton (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/pinkerton/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 8,446 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,195 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 36,555 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.5% (8,164 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɪŋkɚtən/, 3 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Habitational surname from a place near Dunbar, from an unexplained first element + Old English tūn (“enclosure”). This surname is well established in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Pinkerton in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Pinkerton in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Pinkerton

- John Pinkerton, British antiquarian (1758-1826)

## Similar surnames

Pinkard, Pinegar, Pinsker, Pankratz, Panzer, Pingree, Panzarella, Pankhurst.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.