Pienaar

Pienaar is a well-known Afrikaans surname, derived from the French Pinard. It was brought to South Africa in 1688 by Huguenot settlers traveling with the Dutch East India Company. The extended progenitors of the Pienaar clan are Jacques Pinard, a carpenter from Eure-et-Loir, and Esther Foucher (born Suèvres, Orléanais). After Esther's death Pinard later remarried Marthe le Fèbre, a native of Paarl. An extensive genealogy of the Pienaar family in South Africa was compiled by ZJ (Sakkie) Pienaar, and privately published as "Die Pienaars in Suid-Afrika." An updated version of the Pienaar genealogy is now compiled by prof H Christo Viljoen, whose mother was née Pienaar, with the view of eventually having it published by the Huguenot Society of South Africa.