Frequency: (1246)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Altered spelling of Dutch Opdijk, a topographic name for someone who lived on a dike.
FOREBEARS: The American writer John Updike traces his ancestry to Gijsbert Opdijck, commander of the Fort Goede Hoop (now Hartford, CT) in the 1640s.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
