Henkel
Usually a German surname from a pet form of Heinrich, meaning “little Heinrich” or “son of Heinrich.”
The #6,595 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,126 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Henkel is generally explained as a German diminutive or shortened form ultimately from Heinrich, the German equivalent of Henry. In that setting, the first element goes back to the old Germanic name roots meaning roughly “home” or “estate” and “power” or “ruler.” The surname therefore began as a familiar hereditary name, not as a reference to the modern word Henkel meaning “handle” or any other common noun.
History
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century surname scholars commonly grouped Henkel with other short German forms built from Heinrich, such as Henke and Henneke. The name appears widely in German-speaking areas and also in German-American records, which fits the broader spread of surnames formed from popular medieval baptismal names. Some older sources also note related spellings such as Henckel and Henkel.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older onomastic works treat Henkel as part of a whole family of related “Heinrich” surnames, showing how one medieval given name generated many different family names.
From the historical record
“wendisch) fließende Suffix k: Janke, Paulke, Hanmiske, Dammaschk, Scholtka^ Hanko. Bisweilen sind / oder x mit k in deutschen Zwitterformen wie Henkel^ Kunxke vereinigt Ortsnamen werden fast immer unmittelbar übertragen: Ooldbach, Han- siein, Wollenberg — Ukrow, Schillow, Matxkow, Dubrau; -ow und daraus verdeutscht…”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen