Duck
A surname with several likely sources, most often a nickname from the waterfowl, but sometimes a form of Duke or a diminutive based on duck.
The #7,367 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 68,291 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical writers gave Duck more than one possible origin. The most straightforward is a nickname from Middle English duck, the bird, probably first used for someone thought to resemble it in gait or manner. Other explanations connect it with Duke, from Old French duc, or with a longer baptismal form such as Marmaduke; some writers also suggested a Scots word for a dove-cot in related surnames.
History
Bardsley and Lower both treated Duck as a name with multiple independent origins, which means different families may not share the same source. In English records it appears alongside related bird-nicknames such as Drake, and some later bearers may have taken the name from Duke or from pet forms like Duckett and Duckrell. Because of that mix, the surname is best understood as a surname cluster rather than a single lineage.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname scholars even disagreed on whether Duck was mainly a bird nickname or a form of Duke, which is a good reminder that one spelling can hide several different family histories.
From the historical record
“Atkin's Gloucest. Collins' Peerage. DUCK. Most likely Le Due, 'the duke,' as written in H.E. DUCKETT. DUCKITT. Possibly from the Scot, duliate, dow-cate, dove-cot, or pigeon-house. See Jamieson. The Ducketts of Fillingham, co. Lincoln, were resident there in 1205. B.L.G. DUCKRELL. Duckerel is the old di- minutive…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom