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The rank Surname

rank Name Meaning and History

  1. English: nickname for a powerfully built man or someone of violent emotions, from the Middle English adjective rank (Old English ranc ‘proud’, ‘rebellious’).
  2. English: from a medieval personal name, a back-formation from the diminutive Rankin.
  3. South German: variant of Rang 2.
  4. German: nickname either for an agile person, from Middle High German ranc ‘quick turn’, or in some instances for someone who was tall and thin, from Low German rank. In some cases the surname may have been from a personal name formed with this element.
  5. Czech: from a pet form of a personal name, which could be either Slavic Ranožir or Germanic Randolf (see Randolph).
  6. Swedish and Danish: nickname from rank ‘erect’, ‘upright’, ‘straight’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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rank Family Facts

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Distribution of rank Families in the US in 1920
Number of rank families
 71-140
 24-70
 1-23
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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The rank name in History

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