Origin
Beck : 1: English: topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream from northern Middle English bekke ‘stream’ (Old Norse bekkr).2: English (of Norman origin): habitational name from any of various places in northern France named Bec for example Bec Hellouin in Eure named with Old Norman French bec ‘stream’ from the same Old Norse root as in 1 above.3: English: from the Middle English personal name Becke (Old English Becca or Beocca) of uncertain origin.4: English: probably a nickname for someone with a prominent nose from Middle English bek bekke ‘beak (of a bird)’ (Old French bec).5: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a baker a cognate of Becker from (older) South German beck West Yiddish bek ‘baker’. Some Jewish bearers of the name claim that it is an acronym of Hebrew ben-kedoshim ‘son of martyrs’ i.e. a name taken by one whose parents had been martyred for being Jews. The German surname is also found in France (mainly Alsace and Lorraine) Hungary Czechia Slovakia and Croatia. Compare Bek 1.6: North German and Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived by a stream from Low German beke Dutch beck ‘stream’. Compare the High German form Bach 1 and Dutch Bek 6.7: Danish and Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead named Bekk Bæk or Bäck from Old Norse bekkr ‘stream brook’ denoting a farm by a stream.8: Swedish: variant of Bäck (see Back). This surname may also be of German origin (see above).9: Americanized or Germanized form of Polish Rusyn Czech Croatian or Slovenian Bek in the last two languages a cognate of the German name in 5 above.
Barnaby : English:: 1: from the Middle English vernacular form of the Greek and Latin personal name Barnabas which was borne by the companion of St. Paul (Acts 4:36). This is of Aramaic origin from Aramaic bar naḅyā ‘son of the prophet’ although the Greek text of Acts 4:36 explains the name as hyios paraklēseōs ‘son of consolation’ or ‘encouragement’.2: habitational name from any of the four places: Barnaby in North Yorkshire Barnetby le Wold or Barnoldby le Beck (both in Lincolnshire) or Barnby in Suffolk. Barnaby in North Yorkshire is named with the Old English personal name Beornwald (composed of the elements beorn ‘young warrior’ + wald ‘rule’) + Old Norse bȳ ‘settlement farmstead’. Barnby in Suffolk is named with Old Norse barn ‘child offspring’ + bȳ meaning ‘children's farm’ perhaps for an estate divided by heirs.
Beckius : 1: Swedish: ornamental name composed of the element beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’ + the Latin suffix -ius.2: German: Latinized (humanistic) form of Beck ‘baker’ or ‘stream’. The surname Beckius is very rare in Germany.
Beckman : 1: Americanized form of German Beckmann and a variant of the same Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname.2: Americanized form of German Böckmann (see Boeckmann).3: Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’ + man ‘man’ (compare Beck 8). This is also an Americanized form of the variant Bäckman (see Backman).4: English: topographic name for someone who lived beside a stream from northern Middle English bekke ‘stream’ (Old Norse bekkr) + man ‘man’ (compare Beck 1).
Beckmann : 2: North German: topographic name for someone who lived by a stream a variant of Beck 6 from Low German Beke ‘stream’ + -mann ‘man’. Compare Bachmann.1: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name denoting a baker from older South German beck West Yiddish bek + Middle High German Yiddish man (German Mann) ‘man’ (compare Beck 5).
Beckstead : Americanized form of North German Beckstedde or Beckstedt: topographic name from Low German Beck ‘stream’ + -stedde ‘place’ or a habitational name from Beckstedt near Wildeshausen Oldenburg.
Beckton : English (northern) and Scottish: habitational name from Beckton near Lockerbie in Dumfriesshire. The placename is from Old Norse bekkr ‘beck stream’ + tūn ‘farm village’. The surname is not from Beckton in East Ham (Essex) which is named for the 19th-century gas and coal magnate S. A. Beck. Compare Becton.
Bek : 1: Jewish (Ashkenazic) and South German: variant of Beck ‘baker’.2: Croatian and Slovenian: occupational name for a baker from old South German beck ‘baker’ (see Beck compare Pek 1).3: Czech: from a pet form of a personal name beginning with Be- such as Benedikt (see Benedict) or a surname of German origin (see 1 above).4: Polish: nickname derived from bekać ‘to burp’ beczeć ‘to bleat to sing sharp to cry loudly’ or an adaptation of German Beck. This surname is also found among Rusyns (Lemkos).5: Dutch: nickname for someone with a particular bek ‘mouth jaw’.6: Dutch: topographic name for someone living near a beek ‘stream’. Compare Beck 6 and Beek.7: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 白 (see Bai 1) and 麥 (see Mai 1) based on their Hokkien or Teochew pronunciations.
Bobeck : 1: Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements bo ‘farm’ + beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’. In North America this surname may also be an altered form of the variant Bobäck (see Boback).2: German: habitational name from a place so named in Thuringia which is of Slavic origin; compare Bobak.3: Americanized form of Czech Slovenian and Croatian Bobek.4: Jewish (from Poland): variant of Bobek 1.
Brobeck : 1: Swedish: topographic or ornamental name composed of the elements bro ‘bridge’ + beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’. In North America this surname may also be an altered form of the variant Brobäck.2: German: variant of Brotbeck an occupational name for a baker from Middle High German brōt ‘bread’ + beck ‘bake(r)’. This surname is rare in Germany. It is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).
Filbeck : English: habitational name from an unidentified place possibly Fell Beck in North Yorkshire. The name has died out in England.
Foss : 1: English: either topographic name from Middle English foss ‘ditch’ (from Old English foss ‘ditch’ Latin fossa) or a habitational name from one or more of the many places so named such as Voss in Plympton Saint Mary and Great Fossend in Burlescombe (both Devon) the River Foss (North Yorkshire) Foss Beck (East Yorkshire) and the Fosse Way a Roman road running between Lincoln (Lincolnshire) and Axminster (Devon) via Leicester (Leicestershire) Cirencester (Gloucestershire) and Bath (Somerset) named in the Old English period from the ditch that ran alongside it.2: Danish: from fos vos ‘fox’ applied as a nickname for a sly or cunning person or as a topographic or habitational name referring to a house distinguished by the sign of a fox.3: Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead so named from Old Norse fors ‘waterfall’ examples of which are found throughout Norway.4: North German: variant of Voss. This surname is also found in the Netherlands.
Hammerbeck : Americanized form of Swedish Hammarbäck Hammarbeck: ornamental name composed of the elements hammar (either as a placename element mostly meaning ‘stony mound’ or metonymic for an artisan from hammare ‘hammer’) + beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’.
Hilsabeck : Americanized form of German Hilsenbeck a habitational name from a minor place called with Hülse ‘holly’ + beck ‘brook’.
Holmbeck : Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements holm ‘island’ (possibly from a placename) + beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’.
Hubbuck : possibly a locative name from the late-recorded Hudbeck in Castle Sowerby (Cumb) or from the Hope Beck in the same county which is Hobbecke in 1578.
Iredale : English: habitational name apparently from an unidentified locality in Westmorland or Cumberland called Iredale (Old Norse Íradalr ‘valley of the Irish’). The earliest record of the surname (1597) occurs in Crosthwaite near Kendal (Westmorland) through which Arndale Beck runs. The beck name may be a mere corruption of Iredale but it is recorded so late (1857) that it is impossible to judge. This surname is also found in Cumberland from the 1630s between Keswick and Cockermouth particularly in Lorton and Loweswater where Iredale Place in Waterend Loweswater is named after the family.
Irlbeck : German: topographic name for someone who lived near an alder-lined stream from Middle High German erle ‘alder’ + beck ‘brook’.
Laythorpe : from Laythorpe the former name of the settlement south of The Beck in Kirkby la Thorpe (Lincs) which is recorded as Ledulftorp in 1086 and Leilthorp in the 12th century. The place-name derives from the Old Scandinavian personal name Leiðulfr + Old Scandinavian þorp ‘secondary settlement outlying farmstead’.
Lindbeck : Swedish: ornamental name composed of the elements lind ‘lime tree’ (also from placenames) + beck a variant of bäck ‘stream’.
Marbeck : from Mearbeck in Settle (WR Yorks) Meer Beck in Low Abbotside (NR Yorks) or Mere Beck in Cotherstone (NR Yorks). The place-names derive from Old English (ge)mǣre ‘boundary border’ + Old Scandinavian bekkr ‘stream beck’.
Norbeck : 1: Norwegian: topographic name composed of the elements nor ‘north northern’ and beck ‘brook’.2: Swedish: ornamental name probably composed of the placename element nor ‘narrow stream between two waters’ + the ornamental element beck ‘brook’.
Osbeck : 1: Swedish: ornamental name composed of os ‘river mouth’ or ås ‘hill ridge’ (possibly as placename elements) + beck a variant of bäck ‘brook stream’.2: Danish: habitational name from Osbæk in Als from os ‘river mouth’ + bæk ‘brook stream’.
Overbeck : 1: North German: topographic name for someone who lived ‘on the other side of the stream’ from Middle Low German over ‘over across’ + beke ‘stream’ or a habitational name from any of several places called Overbeck in Westphalia. Compare Averbeck.2: Dutch: variant mostly archaic or Americanized of Overbeek.3: Danish and Norwegian: habitational name for a farm name meaning ‘across/above the creek’ (compare 1 above).4: English: topographic name apparently from Middle English over ‘upper higher’ or ‘above’ (Old English uferra or ofer) + beck (Old Scandinavian bekkr ‘beck stream’) hence cognate with 1 above. However it is very likely that the English surname is extinct and that the modern bearers practically confined to Fulham in 1881 are of Dutch origin (compare 2 above).
Raisbeck : English (northern): habitational name from Rais Beck in Orton or Raise Beck in Grasmere (both in Westmorland) two rivers which take their names from Dunmail Raise (a cairn in Cumberland named with Old Norse hreysi ‘cairn’) + Old Norse bekkr ‘stream’ or from Raisbeck in Upleatham (North Yorkshire) which derives from Old Norse rá ‘roe roe buck’ + bekkr. The North Yorkshire placename is recorded in Middle English as Rabec and its modern local form is Raybeck so the -s- is unhistorical. However it is possible that the two pronunciations were interchangeable.
Skilbeck : apparently from Skill Beck which flows into Bassenthwaite Lake (Cumb) or Scale Beck in Westm or perhaps from the river Skell (WR Yorks) which is known as Skell Beck in its upper reaches. Skill Beck (Cumb) probably derives from Old Scandinavian skjallr ‘resounding’ or skial ‘boundary’ + bekkr ‘stream beck’. Scale Beck (Westm) derives from Old Scandinavian skáli ‘shieling temporary hut’ + bekkr. The river Skell (WR Yorks) is named with Old Scandinavian skjallr.
Sperbeck : South German: nickname for a poor baker from Middle High German spör ‘dry meager’ + beck ‘baker’.
Steckbeck : German:: 1: probably a topographic name from a compound of steg ‘path narrow bridge’ + beck ‘creek’ or a habitational name from a place called with this word.2: occupational name from steg ‘path narrow bridge’ + South German beck ‘baker’ denoting a baker who lived by a path or bridge.
Storbeck : North German: habitational name from any of the places so called from a word meaning ‘foul’ + beck ‘stream’.
Thirlaway : from one or more unidentified places named with Old English þyrel ‘gap hollow’ + weg ‘way’ perhaps denoting a hollow or sunken lane. Saint John's Beck a stream running into Thirlmere (Cumb) was referred to in 1589 as a Ryver called thirlway Water: Place-Names of Cumb p. 36.perhaps a local pronunciation of Thirlwall (Northumb; see Thirlwell) as suggested by a reference to Bartram Armstrong of Thurleway in an indictment dated 1597 in Northumb Archives but this has not been confirmed.
Tobeck : North German: topographic name meaning ‘at (the) brook’ from Low German to ‘at’ + beck ‘brook’ (see Bach).
Weedon : English (Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire): habitational name from Weedon in Buckinghamshire or Weedon Beck and Weedon Lois in Northamptonshire all of which are named in Old English with wīg wēoh ‘idol shrine (pre-Christian) temple’ + dūn ‘hill’.
Witbeck : North German: habitational name from a place called Wittbek in Schleswig-Holstein formed with wit ‘white’ + beck ‘stream’.
Woodbeck : 1: Possibly English: habitational name from Woodbeck a place in Nottinghamshire named in Middle English with wode ‘wood’ + beck ‘stream’. However this surname is not found in current English sources.2: Possibly an Americanized form of Dutch Woudbeek: topographic name for someone living by a stream in the wood (compare sense 1 above). The surname Woudbeek is no longer found in the Netherlands.
More
Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
Subject to the Terms and Conditions of Ancestry