English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Pankford

Early-attested site in the Parish of Dilham

Historical Forms

  • Pancforda 1086 DB
  • Pangford 1272,1308 NfR

Etymology

Pankford (lost), Pancforda 1086 DB, Pangford 1272, 1308 NfR.This name in Tunstead Hundred (v. DB II 148a), which Schram places in Dilham, recalls Panxworth in Walsham Hundred, which is Pankesford , Pankesforda in DB. As regards Panxworth, Ekwall takes the first el. to be a pers.n. (nickname), recorded as a surname Panke in 1221 (DEPN). Since it seems unlikely that the names of two fords should contain the same pers.n., the first el. in this case may be the appellative, a word cognate with OSwed  panka 'a kind of fish, esp. a young bream'.