PONDER Family History

Recorded in at least four spelling forms Pound, Ponder, Pounder, Pounds, Pund, and possibly an overlap with the surname Pond or Ponde, this is an English medieval surname. It may be locational and as such describes a person who lived by a pound, or came from a place called Pound, of which there are several examples around the country. The origin is the Olde English pre 7th century 'pund', the later pound. This was a walled enclosure, usually round with one entrance, and of which a number of fine examples still exist, where stray animals were 'impounded' until collected by their owners, who then had to pay a fine to the Pounder, a job descriptive surname.