What is the origin of the term "Poindexter"?

It comes from a character in the "Felix the Cat" cartoons and refers to someone who is nerdy or geeky:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poindexter

Simply Latin for 'right hand'. How it ended up as a nerd I can't say, my slang dictionary doesn't have it, and applying to most of the population would seem a pointless nickname unless someone only had the one hand in which case it would make sense.

edited to add:

Just saw the first reply (crossed with mine), I knew the cartoon character but didn't realise it was the first one.

Probably misspelled.
But a combination of the two words poignant, meaning keen or strong in mental appeal
and
dexter, meaning on the right side
seems to make sense.
His very intelligent right hand man.