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Meaning & History
East Prussian German (and thus heavily Lithuanian influenced) surname.
It is either a Germanized form of Lithuanian Lénkaitis, derived from Lithuanian lenkas meaning "person from Poland", "a Pole", or else Lenkeit is derived from Old Prussian lenke "meadow; cove; hollow, lowland" or else from Sudovian lenkt "to bend, to crook" (in which case it was given to a person living near a river bend).
It is either a Germanized form of Lithuanian Lénkaitis, derived from Lithuanian lenkas meaning "person from Poland", "a Pole", or else Lenkeit is derived from Old Prussian lenke "meadow; cove; hollow, lowland" or else from Sudovian lenkt "to bend, to crook" (in which case it was given to a person living near a river bend).