Recorded in the British Isles as Pochin and Pochon, this is a medieval surname. The famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley writing in the year 1880 described it as being probably from the West County and hence by implication English, and a diminutive of a personal name Poch, for which he could not offer an explanation. In fact it is almost certainly French and probably occupational for a tailor, or at least a maker of clothes with pockets. In France it is recorded as Poche, but more so the diminutives Pochel, Pochet, Pochon, and the prejoritives Pochard and Pochart, as well as other spellings. It seems to have been a Huguenot 17th century introduction into England, which is not surprising as most French register recordings seem to come either from Finisterre far away on the west coast and the Ardennes, to the far east. Both these areas were originally mainly protestant. Recordings from France are quite recent and erratic, as most early registers were destroyed during the famous Revolution of 1792. Such as we have found include include Jean Augustin Pochon of Carhaix, Finisterre, on August 23rd 1799, and Pierre Joseph Pochet at Aiglemont in the Ardeenes, on January 19th 1803.

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