Mak
A short surname that is often a clipped form or spelling variant of longer names, and in some cases reflects a nickname or regional surname tradition.
The #6,555 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,719 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Mak is usually not explained as a single, fixed source word. In historical surname books, it often appears as a shortened or altered form of longer names, or as a spelling variant in families whose original surname began with Mac-, Mak-, Meek-, or a similar sound. In some contexts it may also reflect a nickname based on the Middle English verb make/mak, though that is less certain for the surname as a whole.
History
The excerpts provided do not give a dedicated entry for Mak itself, but they show the element -mak- appearing in several surname forms and variants across British and Norman surname traditions. Because Mak is very short and can overlap with several different naming patterns, it may have arisen independently in more than one place or been adopted as a simplified spelling in later records. In modern usage it is found in several countries, including English-speaking communities and places with Dutch, German, or Gaelic surname influence.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Very short surnames like Mak can be especially tricky for genealogists because the same spelling may mask several unrelated family histories.
From the historical record
“MAKEPEACE (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Peacemaker, Mediator [M.E. mak, maken, O.E. macian to make -1- M.E. paes, peas, pais, O.Fr. pais (Fr. paix), Lat. pax, pads, peace]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)