Block Family History

German and Dutch: from Middle High German bloch, Middle Dutch blok ‘block of wood’, ‘stocks’. The surname probably originated as a nickname for a large, lumpish man, or perhaps as a nickname for a persistent lawbreaker who found himself often in the stocks. English: possibly a metonymic occupational name for someone who blocks, as in shoemaking and bookbinding, from Middle English blok ‘block’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized spelling of Bloch (see Vlach).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press