First granted in 1728, the town was known as Lovewell's Town, in honor of Captain John Lovewell, who built the stockade fort at Ossipee. Shortly afterward, the town took the name Suncook, the Indian name of the river flowing through the area. When the town was incorporated in 1759, it was given the name Pembroke in honor of Henry Herbert, ninth Earl of Pembroke in southern Wales.
