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The lock Surname

lock Name Meaning and History

  1. English: metonymic occupational name for a locksmith, from Middle English, Old English loc ‘lock’, ‘fastening’.
  2. English: topographic name for someone who lived near an enclosure, a place that could be locked, Middle English loke, Old English loca (a derivative of loc as in 1). Middle English loke also came to be used to denote a barrier, in particular a barrier on a river which could be opened and closed at will, and, by extension, a bridge. The surname may thus also have been a metonymic occupational name for a lock-keeper.
  3. English, Dutch, and German: nickname for a person with fine hair, or curly hair, from Middle English loc, Middle High German lock(e) ‘lock (of hair)’, ‘curl’.
  4. Americanized spelling of German Loch.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The lock name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the lock family name as far back in history as possible.

lock Family Facts

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Distribution of lock Families in the US in 1920
Number of lock families
 61-120
 21-60		 1-20
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view lock census records

Year

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  • You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for lock records.
  • You can see how lock families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

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The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
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  • Click here to search lock census records.

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