Frequency: (741)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: from Middle English pyion, peion ‘young bird’, ‘young pigeon’ (from Old French pijon), a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of wood pigeons or a nickname for a foolish or gullible person, since the birds were easily taken.
2. English: altered form of the nickname Pet(y)jon (see Pettyjohn).
3. Irish (County Monaghan): local form of McGuigan, from Gaelic Mac Uiginn ‘son of the Viking’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
