The surname of PINNOCK was derived from the Old English word ‘Pinock’. 
It was a locational name of Pinnock, the name of two parishes in the counties of Cornwall and Gloucestershire.
Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived.  

First found in Cornwall where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the
early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects

Early records of the name mention PINNOKESSER (without surname) who was listed as a tenant in the Doomsday Book of 1086.
Pinnok (without surname) was recorded in the County of Gloucestershire in 1194; William Pinnoc, 1273, County of Oxford,;
and a Walter Pinnock of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. 
Edward Pinnick was documented in the County of Cornwall during the reign of Edward II (1327 – 1377).

The rise of surnames, according to the accepted theory, was due to the Norman Conquest of 1066
when Old English personal-names were rapidly superseded by the new Christian names introduced by the Normans.
Of these, only a few were really popular and in the 12^th century this scarcity of Christian names led to the increasing led to the
increasing use of surnames to distinguish the numerous individuals of the same name.

Some Normans had hereditary surnames before they came to England, but there is evidence that surnames
would have developed in England even had there been no Norman Conquest.  
The development of the feudal system made it essential that the king should know exactly what service each person owed.
Payments to and by exchequer required that debtors and creditors should be particularised,
and it became official that each individual acquired an exact identification. 

Spelling variations include: Pinnock, Pincock, Pinnick, Pinock, Pinoke and others.

First found in Cornwall where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the early census rolls
taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were:
John Pincock settled in Maryland in 1774;
Edward and John Pinnick settled in Pennsylvania in 1684;
Henry Pinnock settled in Virginia in 1759.