Zak
A short surname with several possible roots, including a nickname for a small bag or sack and, in some families, a shortened form of a biblical or Slavic given name.
The #6,540 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,638 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is not tied to one single origin. In Dutch and German contexts, Zak can be a nickname or house-name surname connected with a sack or bag, though the exact pathway varies by family. Elsewhere it may be a shortened form of a Slavic given name such as Zak or a reduced form of names like Zachary/Zacchaeus through later nickname use.
History
The historical excerpts you provided do not give a direct dictionary entry for ZAK itself, but they do show related Dutch surname types formed from house names such as Hopzak and Haverzak. That supports the idea that some Zak surnames may have arisen from descriptive or place-based naming, especially in Low Countries contexts. In modern use, Zak also appears independently in several linguistic traditions, so the surname can have different origins in different branches of a family.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Dutch, zak is the ordinary word for a sack or bag, which is why it often shows up in older house names and surname formations.
From the historical record
“is vermoedelik ontleend aan een huis waar het houten beeld van een kind, een »houten kind", als huisteeken aan den gevel gesteld was. — Hop p zak en Haverzak zijn twee geslachts- namen die ook aan huisnamen ontleend zijn. In den ouden tijd toen bier te lande ook veel hop werd verhoud , ten gebruike voor de talryke…”
— De Nederlandsche geslachtsnamen in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis