Pinhorn Family History

From a Middle English compound of uncertain meaning. The first element looks like Middle English pin ‘pin peg nail brooch; penis; something small and worthless’ or possibly Middle English pinen ‘to torment’ or Middle English pin(n)en ‘to pin fasten keep confined’. The second element is Middle English horn ‘animal horn drinking horn; horned cattle; the supposed horn of a cuckold; a finger- or toe-nail; something horn-shaped or projecting’.

For possible slang senses of horn in Middle English surnames such as ‘head’ ‘penis’ and ‘nose’ see Whitehorn. Perhaps Pinhorn named someone with a small head, but this sense of horn is otherwise unknown in English.