* As an English surname, named after various places such as Penn in Buckinghamshire or Staffordshire, of Brythonic origin, from Proto-Brythonic *penn (“(hill) top, head”). * Also as an English surname, from the noun pen (“enclosure”). * Also as an English surname, spelling variant of Parnell. * As a German surname, from Sorbian pien (“tree stump”), from Proto-Slavic *pьňь.