Wenk Family History

from the Low German and Frisian personal name Weneke, a short form of any of the compound names beginning with the Old High German element wini ‘friend’. topographic name for someone who lived by a turning or bend, Middle High German wenke. from Middle Low German wenke, wenneke ‘wide woolen dress’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker or seller of such garments. nickname from Middle High German wenken ‘to stagger or waver’, probably applied to someone with a peculiar gait, or to a drinker or someone who was indecisive.

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