Bakken
A Scandinavian surname that most likely began as a patronymic or nickname from a personal name like Bakko/Bakke, though some forms may also connect to the word for a hill or slope.
The #7,870 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 73,423 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is most plausibly linked to a Scandinavian personal name such as Bakke or Bakko, with the ending -en functioning as a family-name form or patronymic marker. In Dutch and related naming traditions, similar forms were also traced to an old personal name and to related surname forms such as Baks, Bakkes, and Bakhuizen. Because the historical material is uneven and partly indirect, there may be more than one pathway behind modern BAKKEN forms.
History
Bakken is especially familiar in Norway and among Norwegian-descended families, where it is commonly encountered as a fixed hereditary surname. Related spellings and surname families appear in Dutch and Frisian material as well, showing that similar-sounding names could arise independently in different regions. The surname spread to North America through Scandinavian immigration and is now fairly well established there, though not among the most common names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older naming systems, surnames like this could start as a reference to a forebear’s given name and later harden into a permanent family surname.
From the historical record
“van hunne namen. O ! bewijs dien ryken en verwaanden opkome- ling niet dat zijn geslachtsnaam van zeer nederigen en eenvoudigen oorsprong is ! Toon dien nieu-bakken adeling niet aan dat zijn maagschapsnaam , die nu in spelling een weinig anders is als de gelijkluidende naam van zynen burgerliken buurman , met dien…”
— De Nederlandsche geslachtsnamen in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis