Peak
A surname for someone who lived by a pointed hill or the Peak district in Derbyshire.
The #4,076 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,435 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Peak is an English locational surname from Middle English pe(k), pek, meaning a point or pointed hill, ultimately from Old English pæc/pic, a peak or spike-shaped height. It could describe someone who lived near a pointed hill or who came from the Peak region of Derbyshire, which early sources connect with the same word. Some medieval spellings appear as del Pek or de le Peak, showing the place-name origin clearly.
History
Medieval records show forms such as del Pek in Yorkshire and del Peke in later records, and the name was established in both England and Wales. Lower specifically links the Peakes of Llewenny in Denbighshire to a 13th-century immigrant from Derbyshire. The surname remains in use today, though it is not especially common.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Derbyshire Peak District gave rise not only to place-names but also to surnames built from the same old word for a sharp hill.
From the historical record
“Pea; and + cock, O.E. cocc"] PEAK \ (Eng.) Dweller at a Pointed Hill PEAKE; [M.E. pec, pek; O.E. p^ac, a var. of p(c, a point, pike] Martyn del' Pek.— Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379. The Peak District, Derbyshire, is re- ferred to as Pea£ land in the A.-Sax.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)