Dyke
A surname for someone who lived by a dyke or ditch, or in some cases worked on building one.
The #6,704 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 61,296 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Dyke comes from the Old English word for a ditch, trench, embankment, or earthwork, later written as Middle English 'dyke'. As a surname, it most naturally began as a local name for someone who lived by such a feature. Some early writers also allowed for an occupational sense, referring to a person who made dykes or ditches.
History
Medieval records show forms such as 'del Dykes' and 'in le Dyche', which fit the common English habit of naming people after nearby landscape features. The name also appears in related forms like Dykes and Dykeman. Lower linked Dykes with a Cumberland family tradition and even suggested a connection with Hadrian's Wall, but that is best treated as a historical speculation rather than a firm derivation for all bearers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers sometimes argued that Dykes could allude to Hadrian's Wall, showing how strongly old earthworks colored the imagination around this name.
From the historical record
“DYKE *An haberdasher, and a carpenter, A webbe, a deyer, and a tapiser.* Chaucer, C.T. 363.4. V. Dyster, Lister, Tucker, Wal- ker, Fuller, &c ;oms., I Edw. HI: K ;.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)