Pine
A name for someone who lived by or near a pine tree.
The #5,284 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,836 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained as topographic: it was given to someone who lived near a pine tree or pine-wood. The word goes back to Old English pin and related Latin pinus, both meaning “pine.” Some older writers also treated it as a simple English tree-name surname, alongside forms like Birch and Oak.
History
The name is recorded in English surname dictionaries as a residence name and has clear parallels in other tree-based surnames. A related spelling, Pyne, is also found in English records and is often treated as the same name. Because it is short and descriptive, Pine could arise independently in more than one place.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Tree-based surnames like Pine were often created simply from where someone lived, not from any trade or family symbol.
From the historical record
“Drayton, Poly-Olbion, xxviii, 70-2. PINE (A.-Lat.) Dweller at a PiNE(-Tree) [O.E. pin(-treow), Lat. pin-usi PINER = Pine (q.v.) + the agent, suff. -er. PINERO, an altered form of the Portug. , Pinhdiro = a Pine-Tree [f. Lai. pin-us] PINFOLD (Eng.) Dweller at a Cattle-Pound [f. M.E. pinnen, pennen, O.E. pennian, to…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)