Leak
A locational surname from Old English words for a meadow, clearing, or woodland glade.
The #6,684 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 61,101 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Leak is generally a habitational surname from an Old English place-name element usually written leah, later spelled lea, ley, or leigh. In older English usage this word could mean a clearing, meadow, pasture, or open space in or near woods. So the name originally identified someone who lived by, or came from, such a place.
History
The surname appears in medieval and later records in several spelling forms, including Lea, Ley, Lye, and related variants. Nineteenth-century surname writers regularly treated Leak as one of the forms descending from the Old English place-name element leah. Because the same sound can be spelled in multiple ways, the name has also overlapped with surnames like Leigh and Leek in historical indexing and transcription.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries note that this word could describe not just a meadow, but also a clearing or even a small patch of woodland.
From the historical record
“MAWDESLEY ) (Eng.) Bel. to Mawdesley MAWDSLEY ) (Lanes) = Maud's orMouD's Lea [M.'E. ley, O.'E. leak] Hugh de Moudesley. — Lane. Inq., A.D. 1293. Thomas de Maudesley. —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)