Pounds

Recorded in at least four spelling forms Pound, Pounder, Pounds, Pund, and possibly an overlap with the surname Pond or Ponde, this is an English medieval surname. It may be locational and as such describes a person who lived by a pound, or came from a place called Pound, of which there are several examples around the country. The origin is the Olde English pre 7th century 'pund', the later pound. This was a walled enclosure, usually round with one entrance, and of which a number of fine examples still exist, where stray animals were 'impounded' until collected by their owners, who then had to pay a fine to the Pounder, a job descriptive surname. An alternative occupational origin which will certainly apply to some nameholders, is that the name describes a skilled iron worker, one who was responsible for manufacturing the ancient weights and measures known as 'pounds'. The derivation being again from a word spelt 'pund', although obviously the meaning is quite different. The surname is perhaps not surprisingly very early. Ralph le Pundere being recorded in the pipe rolls of the county of Westmoreland in the year 1176, whilst William Punder is recorded in the Curia Regis rolls for Yorkshire in 1212. An early example of the surname with an occupational origin that is the keeper of a pound, is that of William Pund of Kent in 1206, whilst a first recording with a locational origin is possibly that of Ralph de Punda of the county of Hampshire in the tax rolls known as 'The Feet of Fines' in 1242. Nicholas Attepounde was recorded in Oxford in 1276, whilst in 1279 in the famous Hundred Rolls, Stephen Pound was recorded as a landowner in the county of Kent.