Timberlake

Etymology

This name is most often treated as English and likely began as a locational surname from a place-name built from timber + lake. In older surname works, the second element is sometimes taken not as a true lake but as an old word for a stream, meadow, or low-lying wet place, so the original sense may have been something like “wooded water” or “timber by the lake/stream.” One 19th-century writer also proposed a nickname origin from “Timber-leg,” meaning a man with a wooden leg, but that explanation is much less secure.

History

The surname is recorded in English surname dictionaries as early as the 19th century and has long been treated as a place-based name. A later note by Weekley suggests that forms like Timblick may be contractions of Timberlake in local speech, showing that the name could be shortened in everyday pronunciation. In the United States it is relatively uncommon but established, as shown by its presence in modern census data.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

A 1916 note by Weekley mentions Timblick as a contracted form of Timberlake, showing how local speech could reshape the surname over time.

Notable people named Timberlake

• Justin Timberlake (b. 1981)

Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.

Related surnames