Frequency: (374)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. South German and Dutch: from the Germanic personal name Notker (Notger), composed of the elements not ‘battle throng’ + gār, gēr ‘spear’.
2. North German: nickname for a complainer, from Low German nöckern ‘to moan or grumble’.
3. South German (Nöcker): topographic name from Tyrolean nock, nogg ‘(rounded) hill’, ‘rock’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
