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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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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

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