Talk:Plunkett

On the origin of the name "Plunkett"

On the origin of the name Plunkett, here are the notes I've come up with so far:

From A DICTIONARY OF SURNAMES by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges , page 424: "PLUNKETT, English and Irish (Norman)...habitation name from a metathesized form of 'Plouquenet' in Ille-et-Villaine, Brittany, so called from 'plou' parish + 'Guenec' the personal name of a somewhat obscure saint...an alternative explanation is that this is a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of blankets, from Middle English 'blaunket' (Anglo-Norman-French 'blancquet;' a diminutive of 'blanc' white)."

Other possibilities:

planchet: a small metal or (more recently) plastic disk. origin French, a diminutive of planch, meaning a flat plate

planchette: a small board, triangular or heart-shaped, supported on casters at two points and a vertical rod or a pencil at a third point. origin French, from the diminutive of planche, meaning plank, which is from Latin planca.

From "A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames" on Google Books

Plunkett, Plunket, Plunkitt derivation 1 -- local, 'of Plukenet." The same as the once great name of Plucknett.... Joceus de Plukenet, co Berks 1273 Joceus de Plunkenet, co Berks 1273

derivation 2 -- Nickname (?) from the complexion: blanchet, blanket, white; whence blanket and plunket for a coarse woolen cloth. A statute of Richard III calls it 'plonket.' The form in Prompt. Parv. is 'plunket.' Mr. Way quotes a line from Awntyrs of Arthure: "His belte was of plonkete, with birdis fulle baulde."

D. C. Plunkett (talk) 19:29, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]