The name derives partly from a personal noun, with Pica's-tūn, meaning Pica's settlement or farmstead.

[4] There are two tiers of local government covering Picton, at parish and unitary authority level: Mickle Trafford and District Parish Council, and Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The parish council generally meets at the village hall in Mickle Trafford.

[5] Picton was historically a township in the ancient parish of Plemstall, which formed part of the Broxton Hundred of Cheshire.

In some cases, including Plemstall, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole.