Keck Family History

English (Gloucestershire): nickname from the Middle English reflex of the Old Norse personal name Keikr (from Old West Scandinavian keikr ‘bent backwards’) or Kekkja.

English (Gloucestershire): nickname possibly from keck backformed from kex used through much of southern England as the name of a range of umbelliferous plants having a hollow stalk when dried, for instance, cow parsley, cow parsnip, and hemlock, as well as teasel (with parallels in Scandinavia).

German: nickname from Middle High German kēc ‘lively, active’ (cognate of English quick) which later changed its meaning to ‘bold, forward, fresh’.

Americanized or Germanized form of Slovenian Kek: nickname from the same root as keka ‘small mallet or beetle’, also ‘lush tuft of hair’, or as a homonym keka ‘someone who walks in a sneaky way’.