Pitcher
A surname most often traced to a French nickname or patronymic, though some English sources also linked it to a worker or inn sign.
The #5,539 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,226 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical writers gave more than one explanation for Pitcher. One line of thought connects it with Anglo-French and French forms such as Pichard or Picher, ultimately tied to a word for a pike or spear, or possibly as a softened form of Picard. Another tradition treats it as an English occupational name for someone who pitched, plastered, or loaded materials, or for a man identified by an inn sign. The evidence is mixed, so the surname is best treated as having uncertain origin with both French nickname and English occupational possibilities.
History
Nineteenth-century surname scholars noted Pitcher as especially common in Yorkshire records and also as a well-known Devonshire surname. Some thought it was an altered form of Pichard/Picard, while others preferred an English occupational explanation. The surname is still found in Britain and has spread to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source even suggested Pitcher could come from an inn sign, showing how surnames sometimes grew from everyday local landmarks as well as occupations.
From the historical record
“PITCHARD, V. Pichapd. PITCHER (A.-Fr.) i the French Picher, Pichier, palatal forms oi pigu(i)er = Pike-Man [f. Fr. pique, a pike, the same word as pic, a pick, and lta.\. picca, a pike; also O.E. pic, fi pike : cp. Lat. pic-us, a woodpecker] 2 for the French Pichard: v. Pichard.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)