Quick
A nickname surname meaning lively, active, or nimble.
The #1,416 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,305 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Quick comes from Middle English quicke, quic, quik, meaning "alive," "living," or by extension "lively" and "nimble." Those forms go back to Old English cwic, which is related to cognates in other Germanic languages such as Old Saxon and Old Norse. As a surname, it most likely began as a descriptive nickname for an alert or brisk person.
History
The name appears early in English records and was already recognized in the 19th century as an established surname. It belongs to the common English class of surnames formed from personal qualities, alongside names like Smart, Snell, and Bold. The modern surname has remained fairly stable in spelling, though older records may show Quicke or Quicke.
Origin
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Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older English, quick could mean not just "fast" but also "alive"—a sense preserved today in phrases like "the quick and the dead."
From the historical record
“family-name Quek : v. Queck, Quick] QUICK "I (Teut.) i Quick, Lively, Nimble QUICKE ) [M.E. quicke, quic, quik, quyk; O.E. cwie (= O.Sax. quiU) = O.N. kuik-r, living, alive] Robert Quic. — Hund. Rolls. And short and guik [variantly quyk] and ful of hy sentence.—”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)