All, my paternal grandmother, Ivy Isabelle Anne Ponchard.
Her family always said it was French, true sort of, Norman French actually.
http://www.one-name.org/profiles/punchard.htmlVariants
The original Norman name was de Punchardon and this contracted over the centuries to Punchardon, then Punchard. Variations mainly occuring due to dialect pronunciations being recorded in Church Registers and Indexes.
Puncher
Puncherd
Purnchard
Punshard
Ponchard - Exclusive to Australia, Origins Circa 1700's Bristol, England
Origin of the surname
Quoted from 'Records of an unfortunate family' : 'The name of Punchard appears first in England on the Roll of Battle Abbey. Holinshed spells it Punchardoun, Duchesne and Stow as Punchardon and on the Dives Roll it is found as Pontchardon. This last form is the nearest to Pontcardon, a village close to Neuffla in Normandy where the family was noted in the 9th and 10th Centuries. Arthur Folkard is inclined to look for the origin in the name beyond that of the Norman town where it is first recorded and to see in it the relic of an office, rather than a locality. If so, its first intention was on of great importance – no less than the Keeper (warden) of the Bridge. And as ‘pontifex’ means ‘the builder of the bridge’, so 'ponte-chardon' means its guardian'