Frequency: (2454)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English (chiefly Berkshire): from Middle English planke ‘plank’ (Late Latin planca). It is not clear how this word was applied as a surname: it may be a topographic name for someone who lived near a plank bridge over a stream, a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter, or a nickname for a thin person.
2. North German: nickname for a cantankerous person, from Middle Low German plank ‘quarrel’, ‘discord’.
3. North German: metonymic occupational name from Middle Low German plank ‘measure for liquids’.
4. South German: topographic name from Middle High German plank ‘plank’, ‘palisade’.
5. South German: nickname for a fair-haired person, from a variant of Middle High German blanc ‘light’, ‘shining’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
