topographic name for someone who lived by a
stream, from Old Norse lœkr ‘brook’. There are also a number
of places named with this word--such as Leake in North Yorkshire,
Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire, Leek in Staffordshire, and Leck in
Lancashire--and the surname may also be from any of these. Compare
southern English Leach 2.
possibly also a metonymic
occupational name for a grower or seller of leeks, from Old English
leac.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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