Chapter 7 - The Family Name

 

There is a little story about the SHANKS FAMILY NAME that, I think, bears repeating. Whether it is true or not, I, of course, do not know. It does make for interesting reading.

THE SHANKS FAMILY NAME

"The Story of Your Name", 105 South Moore Street, Clayton, NC

Several thousand years ago everyone was known by their first name. As the population grew, that became confusing since several people could have the same first name. Thus, people began using additional words and phrases to describe or refer to an individual.

In this manner, John (who lived by the river) would become known as John (at the) River, while another John, who lived in an open field might be referred to as John (at the) Meadow or John (at the) Field. John, the village blacksmith would become known as John Smith in order to distinguish him from John the Baker or John the Cook. Thus, the beginning of the last names that would be passed from one generation to the next.

Others would be identified by a nickname they had acquired (and this is how the SHANKS got their name), such as "Long" for the tall man, "Short" for the small man, "Brown" for one with dark skin, or "White", denoting the man with a light complexion or gray hair. Sometimes names would be taken from the person's father, such as Johnson (son of John) or Thompson (son of Thomas).

Almost every family name today was acquired in one of these ways.

One source (“The Story of Your Name!”) says the SHANKS name began as a nickname and was used to further identify - -

"one who was bow-legged, or in some way had peculiar legs."

This source says our "country of origin" is Scotland and England.

Other spellings are SHANK or SHANKE.

Foreign equivalents of the SHANKS name are:

LEGGE (Norwegian) KRUMBEIN (German)

There are approximately 16,800 SHANKS in the USA.

The SHANKS name rank in size is 2,702nd (Smith is #1).