Pankey is an Americanized form of French Panetier: occupational name for a pantryman from panetieran agent derivative of pain ‘bread’. Alteration of the French ending -tier to English -key is typical for American French surnames. The American version originated with two French brothers who emigrated to Virginia in 1700, Jean and Etienne Panetier.
It is also a North American last name and the Anglicized form of the German-language surname Pahnke, which in itself is derived from the diminutive form pank/panek of the Lower Sorbian/Upper Sorbian/Polish word pan for "man", "master" or "mister" (and can thus roughly be translated as "little gentleman", “young noble” or "junker").Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Duden Familiennamen: Herkunft und Bedeutung von 20.000 Nachnamen, 495Horst Naumann, Das große Buch der Familiennamen, 209Hans Bahlow, Deutsches Namenlexikon: Familien- und Vornamen nach Ursprung und Sinn erklärt, 372
Notable people with the surname include:
Ashton Pankey (born 1992), American basketball player Aubrey Pankey (1905–1971), American baritone Eric Pankey (born 1959), American poet and artist Irv Pankey (born 1958), American football player Susan Pedersen Pankey (born 1953), American swimmer Titus Pankey Jr. (1925–2003), American physicist
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