Radtke
A German surname most likely from a nickname or pet form built on a personal name, rather than a place or occupation.
The #5,684 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 50,622 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Radtke is a German surname, especially found in the eastern German and West Slavic borderlands, that is generally understood as a pet form or shortened form of a personal name. It is commonly linked with Slavic-style diminutive formation in -ke, and may ultimately rest on a short form of names built on the element Rad- or related forms meaning "advice" or "counsel." The exact source name is not always easy to prove, so the surname is usually treated as a patronymic or nickname-based formation rather than a straightforward occupational name.
History
The name is especially associated with German-speaking families from regions that once had strong German-Slavic contact, including parts of Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, and neighboring areas. Surnames of this type often became hereditary in the late medieval to early modern period and later spread through migration into other German-speaking countries and overseas, including the United States. In modern records it is most often encountered as a family name of German origin, sometimes reflecting eastern regional naming patterns.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The ending -ke is a clue to the surname’s regional flavor: it is common in surnames from German areas that had long contact with Slavic languages.