Pickle
An English surname most likely from a place-name, especially Pickhill in Yorkshire, though earlier scholars also considered a link with pig-hill.
The #9,493 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,145 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Harrison treats Pickle as an English surname tied to place-names such as Pickhill in Yorkshire. He suggests two possible place-name senses: one from a word for a peak or pointed hill, and another from an older form meaning "pig-hill." Earlier surname collections did not have a firm explanation for Pickle and noted the form as an unprefixed surname of uncertain origin.
History
The name appears in historical records in forms such as Pikel and Pikele, and later spreads into spellings like Pickel and Pickles. Harrison notes that in Yorkshire, Pickles and Pighills were sometimes treated as interchangeable, which supports a local topographic or locational origin. The surname is relatively uncommon in the United States but has been preserved in Britain and in English-speaking diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century writers grouped Pickle with other surnames that sound like common foods, but Harrison’s explanation points instead to a landscape or place-name origin.
From the historical record
“PICKIN, V. under Picken. PICKLE (Eng.) Bel. to Pickhill (Yorks, etc.) = I the Peak-Hill [v. Pick (Engr), Peak(e; and -f- O.E. hylt\ 2 the Pig-Hill [v. under Pigg] PICKLES, genit., and pi, of Pickle, q.v. ' In Yorkshire, the surnames Pickles and Pighills seem to have been interchange-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)