What We Know About the Pinnell Surname

Pinnell and Pennell are two spellings with one history. Name scholars give the meaning as “from Payne, 'countryman'”.

Arms associated with the name

Looking for a Pinnell coat of arms? Arms were granted to families, not to surnames, and our research shows which heraldic tradition fits yours.

How the spelling arose

The two spellings differ in a small detail: Pinnell has “i” where Pennell has “e”. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. The same family of names includes Pennel.

Pinnell ranked 20,285 in the 2010 US Census, with 1,311 people answering to the name. It sits within the 25,000 most common last names in the country. Get the complete Pinnell report, with a museum-style coat of arms.