[Surname] Fink
When I was growing up, there was a family in town with the last name Fink. I mentioned to a friend that I thought it was a weird name and wondered what the etymology might be. She suggested that I post it here. All I know about the family was that they were Caucasion. It was a small town in North Dakota, which usually suggests German or Norwegian ancestry somewhere.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Replies
Fink
German, Slovenian, English, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a lively and cheerful person, or, in the case of the Jewish name, an ornamental name, from a Germanic word meaning ‘finch’ (see Finch). As a Slovenian surname, it may also be a translation into German of the Slovenian surname Šinkovec (from an old spelling of šcinkovec or šcinkavec ‘finch’).
This is from ...http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Fink
Finch
English: nickname from Middle English finch ‘finch’ (Old English finc). In the Middle Ages this bird had a reputation for stupidity. It may perhaps also in part represent a metonymic occupational name for someone who caught finches and sold them as songsters or for the cooking pot. The surname is found in all parts of Britain but is most common in Lancashire. See also Fink.
German, Slovenian, English, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a lively and cheerful person, or, in the case of the Jewish name, an ornamental name, from a Germanic word meaning ‘finch’ (see Finch). As a Slovenian surname, it may also be a translation into German of the Slovenian surname Šinkovec (from an old spelling of šcinkovec or šcinkavec ‘finch’).
This is from ...http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Fink
Finch
English: nickname from Middle English finch ‘finch’ (Old English finc). In the Middle Ages this bird had a reputation for stupidity. It may perhaps also in part represent a metonymic occupational name for someone who caught finches and sold them as songsters or for the cooking pot. The surname is found in all parts of Britain but is most common in Lancashire. See also Fink.
A Fink is not a lively person in German, it's a bird.
So does finch in English. Do you think people called Fink and Finch descend from birds?
Thank you very much for helping me out. Fink clearly has come to mean something quite different in modern slang.