Lock Family History

English: metonymic occupational name for a locksmith, from Middle English, Old English loc ‘lock’, ‘fastening’. English: topographic name for someone who lived near an enclosure, a place that could be locked, Middle English loke, Old English loca (a derivative of loc as in 1). Middle English loke also came to be used to denote a barrier, in particular a barrier on a river which could be opened and closed at will, and, by extension, a bridge. The surname may thus also have been a metonymic occupational name for a lock-keeper. English, Dutch, and German: nickname for a person with fine hair, or curly hair, from Middle English loc, Middle High German lock(e) ‘lock (of hair)’, ‘curl’. Americanized spelling of German Loch.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press