PICKEN
Picken is a surname of English origin that is recorded in the historic documents of the British Isles. It derives from the medieval given name Pic, a diminutive of Piers or Peter, and in this form it functioned as a patronymic, identifying the descendants of an ancestor named Pic.
The same name may also be rooted in the Old English word pic, meaning a “point” or a “pick‑axe”. This suggests that the original bearer of the surname may have been a tool‑maker, an agriculturist who employed a pick or a digger, or a person who worked with such implements. An unrelated occupational derivation is also possible: the medieval English word pike referred to a fish, and the recorded name of the fishmonger Alexander le Pik appears in the London Pipe Rolls of 1292, pointing to a potential link with fishmongering. The contemporary surname Pikeman is therefore related, as it denoted a seller of pike fish.
In Scotland, Picken is considered a diminutive form of the personal name Patrick, itself derived from the Latin Patricius, meaning “son of a noble father” or “member of the patrician class”. Thus, the Scottish version of the name connotes “little Patrick” or “son of little Patrick”. The surname is most prevalent in South West Scotland and in the northern parts of England, especially in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders.
Several spelling variations have been documented, including Picken, Pickin, Pickins, Pickings, Pyke, Pike, Pickens and Pickon. The variant Pickeney or Pickney is related to the Old English word picene, meaning “pipe”. The surname also appears in Irish records, where it may be an Anglicised form of Ó Peicín (“descendant of Peicín”) and is notably common in counties Mayo and Galway. An Irish form, MacPhickan, suggests a descent from the Old Scottish name that means “son of Phickan”, while a Norse source lists the personal name Phikki as a possible origin.
The first recorded instance of the family name appears in the Domesday Book of Devonshire under the entry Aluric Pic dated 1066, during the reign of King William the Conqueror. Further medieval mentions, such as the 1292 Pipe Rolls, demonstrate the name’s long-standing presence within English administration.
Today, the surname Picken is found throughout the United Kingdom, with significant concentrations in England and Scotland, and smaller but notable communities in Ireland. Its reach extends beyond the British Isles, appearing in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as a result of emigration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In these countries the name has retained its historical spellings and continues to be registered in civil and genealogical records.
Typical given names associated with the Picken surname
Male
- Alan
- Andrew
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Robert
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Ann
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Gillian
- Janet
- Jean
- Jennifer
- Julie
- Linda
- Margaret
- Nicola
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Picken in...
Braille
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Morse
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There are approximately 2,254 people named Picken in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,809th most common surname in Britain. Around 35 in a million people in Britain are named Picken.
Surname type: Diminutive
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Picken
- Laurence Picken - Musicologist (1909 to 2007)
- Phil Picken - Football player
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.