Houck
A Dutch surname from a word for a corner, bend, or nook.
The #2,854 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,438 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Houck is best understood as a Dutch surname from Middle Dutch hoek, meaning a corner, angle, or bend. In surname use, it could point to someone who lived by a corner, at a bend in a road or river, or near a hooked or projecting piece of land. The spelling Houck reflects older or regional Dutch orthography.
History
The name fits a common Dutch naming pattern built from landscape features and topographic terms. It also appears in compounds such as Houckgeest in older Dutch surname lists, which supports the reading of Houck as a place-based name element. In English-speaking countries, Houck is usually found among descendants of Dutch immigrants and their families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Houck belongs to a large family of Dutch surnames formed from everyday landscape words like dijk, duin, and veen.
From the historical record
“1 Berg, Briuk, Dam, Dijk, Duin, Haven, Hoek eu Houck, Hoff, Huis, Kolk, Laan, Oort, Poel, Sluis, Strand, Veen, Veld, Zee. 2 'T Pelt (het veld), De Geest en De Gheest, Deu Duyn, De Hoogt, De Hoek, De Hoorn, De Poel, 'T Sas, De Wal en De Walle, De Weide, De Winkel, De Zee.”
— De Nederlandsche geslachtsnamen in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis