Family name origins & meanings
- German : habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a panther, Middle High German panter (see Panther 1).
- North German : occupational name for a mortager or pawn broker, from a contracted form of Pfandherr.
- English (mainly Northamptonshire) and Scottish : occupational name for a servant in charge of the supply of bread and other provisions in a monastery or large household, Middle English pan(e)ter (Old French panetier).