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[Surname] Last name MENKE
by Christopher Menke (guest)
10/28/2005, 10:22 AM
I am looking for roots of surname MENKE. My great-grandfather Gustav Menke was a German Lutheran who came from the former Prussia or German colony in Ukraine. Any leads? My email is chrismenke@hotmail.com
Thank You!!!
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- Jim Young (guest)   +3
10/29/2005, 1:20 PM
I read on a German website that this is a diminutive of the male given name Mainhard. Now all you have to do is find out what Mainhard means.
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- Sagani (guest)
10/31/2005, 5:48 AM
From Mainhard comes the italian surname Mainardi as well.
It is an old german personal name:
"Magin", strength or power
"hardhu", strong, valiant
So the meaning could be: "hard or redoubtable for his strength".See E. De Felice / Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani/ Cognome Mainardi.
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- Menke (guest)   +1
10/31/2005, 5:26 AM
to be more precise: Menke is a short form of names starting with the Germanic component meine- which comes from Germanic megin meaning "strength". Meinhard is one of those names and the latter part, -hard, means "hard, strong". Other known names are Meinfri(e)d, Mein(h)old and Meinulf or Meinolf. Menke is not only a German surname, but also Frisian, since the firstname Menke is Frisian as well.
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- Jim Young (guest)
11/1/2005, 4:07 AM
I believe the English surname Maynard is another version.
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