Eck
A short German surname that likely began as a clipped old personal name or nickname, though some sources also treat it as a reshaped form of a biblical name.
The #4,618 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,196 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Eck is hard to pin down with certainty. One 19th-century source treats it as an old personal name, possibly connected with the medieval German figure Ecke; another suggests it may be a transposed form of Isaiah. A further clue from German surname studies is that very short names like Eck can arise from older, shortened forms of longer given names, so the name may have multiple lines of origin.
History
The name appears in German-language surname material and also turns up in broader Germanic naming patterns, including short forms created by reduction from longer names. Because of that, Eck may not have a single universal origin: in different families it could reflect an inherited nickname, an old given name, or a later altered form of a biblical or traditional name. The surname is relatively uncommon in the United States today.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
German surname scholars note that very brief surnames like Eck often come from the shortening of older, fuller names rather than from a simple everyday word.
From the historical record
“ECK 3. By transposition of letters from Esay, the old form of Isaiah. EATON. Parishes and places in cos. Leicester, Chester, Berks, Nottingham, Salop, Derby, Hereford, Bedford, &c. EATWELL. Probably from Etwall, a parish in Derbyshire.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom