Lakey
A surname most likely from a place name, originally meaning someone who lived by a lake or at a waterside meadow.
The #8,235 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,707 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Lakey is most likely an English locational surname built from the element lake, with the ending -ey often used in place names for an island, river-meadow, or low wet ground. In that sense, the name would have identified someone who lived near a lake or in a waterside place. It may also in some cases be a variant of names from local dialect forms of place names rather than a single fixed source.
History
Like many English surnames, Lakey probably began as a description of where a family lived and later became hereditary. It is found in English-speaking countries today, especially in the United States, where spelling variation has been common. Because the form is relatively uncommon, several local origins may have contributed to the surname in different families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The ending -ey in English place names is old and often points to a wet place, island, or river-meadow rather than just “island” in the modern sense.