Frequency: (980)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. German, Dutch, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from Middle High German or Middle Low German banc, or Yiddish bank ‘bench’, ‘table’, ‘counter’, in any of various senses, e.g. a metonymic occupational name for anyone whose work required a bench or counter, for example a butcher, baker, court official, or money changer.
2. Danish and Swedish: topographic name from bank ‘(sand)bank’ or a habitational name from a farm named with this word.
3. Danish and Swedish: from bank ‘noise’, hence a nickname for a loud or noisy person. Compare Bang.
4. Danish: habitational name from the German place name Bänkau.
5. English: probably a variant of Banks.
6. Americanized spelling of Polish Bąk, literally ‘horsefly’; perhaps a nickname for an irritating person.
7. Hungarian (Bánk): from a pet form of the old secular personal name Bán.
GIVEN NAMES: Jewish 4%. Mort (2), Sol (2), Ari, Avraham, Galit, Hyman, Isadore, Mirra, Zvia.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
