Frequency: (12178)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
German, Slovenian, English, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a lively and cheerful person, or, in the case of the Jewish name, an ornamental name, from a Germanic word meaning ‘finch’ (see Finch). As a Slovenian surname, it may also be a translation into German of the Slovenian surname Šinkovec (from an old spelling of ščinkovec or ščinkavec ‘finch’).
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
