Speaks
An English surname most likely from a nickname for an eloquent or talkative person, though it may also be a variant of older forms built on “speak.”
The #9,150 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,605 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Speaks is generally understood as a name formed from the verb “speak,” ultimately from Old English sprǣcan, meaning to speak or talk. As a surname, it most likely began as a nickname for someone known for eloquence, loquacity, or maybe a public-speaking role. In some cases, surnames of this type also reflect later spelling variation from related forms such as Speak, Speake, or Speek.
History
The name is present in English-language surname tradition, and its modern form is likely a later spelling variant rather than the original medieval shape. Like many nickname surnames, it may have arisen independently in more than one place. Its relative rarity in the United States suggests it has remained a minor surname rather than one strongly tied to a single large family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the surname looks like the everyday verb in the third person singular, it can be easy to mistake it for a sentence fragment rather than a family name.
From the historical record
“name ; so that it may be a descendant of the A.-Fr. name Parleben, Parlebien, 'Good Speaker' {Fr. parle, he speaks ; (ult. £ Lat. parabola, a collation (from Gr.) -f Fr. bien (earlier ben), Lat. bene, well] PARLE I the French P/erre/ = Pierre (F*eter) -I- the dim. suff. -el.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)