Lake
A surname from a place by a lake or watercourse, and sometimes from residence near a small stream in western England.
The #1,091 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,617 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name comes from the Old English word for a lake or sheet of water, and in some western English usage it could also refer to a small stream or watercourse. It was used to identify someone who lived by or near such a feature, often in forms like De Lake or Atte Lake. Some later surname forms may also reflect place-names built from the same element.
History
Lake is an old English topographic surname and appears in medieval records in several spelling styles, including De Lacu and De la Lake. It has long been associated with western England and with place-names containing the same water word. The surname also spread widely through Britain and later to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers noted that in parts of western England, lake could mean a small stream rather than a still body of water.
From the historical record
“of the A- Sax. Icag, territory or district. LAKE. In the West, any small rivulet ; also a parish in Wiltshire, united with Wilsford. De Lacu, De Lake, De la Lake, Atte Lake. H.R. LAKEMAiST. See Lake and man. LAKER. See Lake and er. LAKIIST. Perhaps Lacon, a township in”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom