LOCK
Lock is a surname of English origin, with its earliest attestations found in the British Isles. The name first appears in the early twelfth‑century Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire under the form Leuric Loc, dated 1130, during the reign of King Henry I, often referred to as “The Lion of Justice”. The entry indicates that the name was already in use in the estate accounts of the period.
The surname has several plausible derivations, all connected with the concept of security and with topography. One theory holds that it is a metonymic occupational name for a locksmith, taken from the Old English word loc meaning a bolt or fastening. Knowledge of the craft could have passed from generation to generation and shortened to Lock. An alternative occupational origin is that of a lock‑keeper, who managed a barrier or gate on a river or a bridge. The Middle English word loke, considered a development of the Old English loca, was used especially of a movable barrier on a waterway that could be opened and closed at will, and by extension of a bridge. Finally, as with many English surnames, Lock could be a nickname for a person with curly or tangled hair. In this case the name is derived from the Old English loc(c) and the Old High German loc, both meaning “lock” of hair.
The earliest recorded documents that use the name Lock as a family surname come from the fourteenth century. In 1230 a William de Lok is listed in the county of Berkshire, while in 1273 a William Lock appears in Oxfordshire. Another early example is Robert Atteloke of Cambridgeshire in 1300, which suggests that the name was already established in several English counties by the early 1300s. Further evidence comes from the London church registers of the sixteenth century: the christening of Joan, daughter of Mychaell Lock, at St. Giles' Cripplegate on 25 April 1568, and the marriage of Robert Lock to Mary Baker at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, on 22 October 1572.
During the early seventeenth century a member of the Lock family emigrated to the New World. William Lock sailed from London on the ship Planter in March 1634, bound for the Virginia Colony, marking one of the first instances of the surname appearing in colonial records. This migration illustrates the geographic spread of the name beyond its English roots into the wider Atlantic world.
Throughout its history the surname Lock has been associated with places characterised by enclosures or with those who worked to control access to such enclosures. It is therefore a name that evokes both physical and metaphorical security. The consistent appearance of the name across a wide range of English records—from the medieval Pipe Rolls to parish registers—demonstrates its longevity and the likelihood that its bearers were involved in occupations or lived in environments where the notion of a lock was significant.
Typical given names associated with the Lock surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Christopher
- David
- John
- Michael
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
Female
- Alison
- Christine
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Julie
- Karen
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Lock in...
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There are approximately 14,039 people named Lock in the UK. That makes it the 638th most common surname in Britain. Around 216 in a million people in Britain are named Lock.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Lock
- Sean Lock - Comedian
- Eric Lock - Flying ace (1919 to 1941)
- Georgia Lock - Actor, Presenter
- Trevor Lock - Comedian
- David Lock - Politician
- Kevin Lock - Football player
- Dennis Lock - Cricketer
- Walter Lock - Cricketer (1907 to 1980)
- Frank Lock - Football player (1922 to 1985)
- Tony Lock - Football player
- Bert Lock - Cricketer (1903 to 1978)
- Bernard Lock - Cricketer (1915 to 1997)
- Matt Lock - Football player born 1984
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.