This is a locational name from an estate in the parish of Guinear, Cornwall, recorded as Polkenhoern in 1316, and deriving from the Cornish elements "pol" a pool or pond and the Old Cornish personal name Kenhoern, - meaning "Hound-Iron". This locational name was most likely given to the first settler i.e. Kenhorne, who took up residence by the pool. As his descendants moved either voluntarily or otherwise from their place of origin, the spelling of the name was transposed. Thus, in the modern idiom, the name has three spelling variations: Polkinghorn(e), Polkinhorn and Puckinghorne. On February 4th 1565, at East Newlyn, Cornwall, Richard Pellamonter married Elizabeth Polkhynhorne, while the day after a Katherine Pellamonter married Thomas Polkyhorne, at the same place. Thomas Polkinhorne had a son christened on August 20th 1572, at Gwinear, Cornwall while here also Catherine daughter of a Thomas Polkinhorne was christened on January 7th 1584. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of An old family of gentlemen, surname, Polkinhorne, which was dated 1400, Gilbert's Cornwall, during the reign of King Henry 1V, known as "Henry of Bolingbroke", 1399 - 1413. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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