The rank Surname
rank Name Meaning and History
- English: nickname for a powerfully built man or someone of violent emotions, from the Middle English adjective rank (Old English ranc ‘proud’, ‘rebellious’).
- English: from a medieval personal name, a back-formation from the diminutive Rankin.
- South German: variant of Rang 2.
- 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.
- Czech: from a pet form of a personal name, which could be either Slavic Ranožir or Germanic Randolf (see Randolph).
- Swedish and Danish: nickname from rank ‘erect’, ‘upright’, ‘straight’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Search for rank records
More resources for your rank family history
Rank message board
Threads: 83 - Messages: 336
| Thread | Author | Replies |
| Ranks from Yorkshire, England |
 jennmills44
| 0 |
| Death of Ms. Ruth Mary Rank in Mexico |
davwayell
| 0 |
| RANK Dale C MD and Amy Y |
t42Moore
| 0 |
| RANK Dave C-1955-1969 |
t42Moore
| 0 |
| John Rank, Ohio - Civil War era | George M. Fryberger | 5 |
| English Ranks | Steve Rank | 26 |
| Rank family | Rank/cary,s | 9 |
| Rank's from Ontario, Canada and Yorkshire, England |
jennmills44
| 0 |
| Rank baptism cert Lebanon PA |
Lookin4treasure
| 1 |
| RANK REUNION |
jimmyrank120
| 59 |
Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?
A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.
Begin your family tree with your name:
The rank name in History
A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the rank family name as far back in history as possible.
Member Connections
- Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the rank last name.
- Search for Ancestry members researching one of your specific ancestors.
- Create or update your own Ancestry member profile so that other members can anonymously contact you.
More Tools and Resources
- Search Ancestry.com for all of your rank ancestors.
- Create and publish your own family history book using Ancestry Press.
- Learn more about your family history using DNA Ancestry.
- Learn more about family history in the Ancestry Learning Center.
- Visit the Ancestry.com homepage.