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POINTING & POYNTING surnames in the period before 1600 are almost exclusively from Somerset, England. Even today these names have the highest density in Somerset/Wiltshire. However, other families with these surnames can be found in other areas going back to between 1700 & 1800. The main "branches" were centred around Wycombe (Bucks), Kent, Sussex, Norfolk and London/Surrey (at least two "branches"). Family charts of these "branches" can be seen at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pnlowe/pointing_home.htm.
Although these surnames are very rare in the USA, there are many people with these surnames in Australia. Most are known to come from the Somerset and Sussex families, but the origins of others are less clear at present.
DNA testing (using the Oxford Ancestors test) has already shown a 10/10 match between members of two previously unconnecting men of the name POYNTING with Somerset origins- one a descendant of Caleb POINTING living in Midsomer Norton since the early 1700s& the other a member of the family living in Bruton since the mid 1700s.
In some records the surnames PONTING, POINTON & POINTEN have been used interchangeably with POINTING, though in general in the priod after 1700 the surnames are distinct and appear unconnected. So saying the preponderance of the surname PONTING nearly colocalizes with POINTING/POYNTING in Somerset/Wiltshire areas suggesting there might be a genetic connection.
Although these surnames are very rare in the USA, there are many people with these surnames in Australia. Most are known to come from the Somerset and Sussex families, but the origins of others are less clear at present.
DNA testing (using the Oxford Ancestors test) has already shown a 10/10 match between members of two previously unconnecting men of the name POYNTING with Somerset origins- one a descendant of Caleb POINTING living in Midsomer Norton since the early 1700s& the other a member of the family living in Bruton since the mid 1700s.
In some records the surnames PONTING, POINTON & POINTEN have been used interchangeably with POINTING, though in general in the priod after 1700 the surnames are distinct and appear unconnected. So saying the preponderance of the surname PONTING nearly colocalizes with POINTING/POYNTING in Somerset/Wiltshire areas suggesting there might be a genetic connection.