Meek Coat of Arms / Meek Family Crest
The surname of MEEK was a nickname ‘the gentle and meek person’ the name was derived from the old Norman word MJUKR, and was brought into England during the wake of the Norman Invasion of 1066.
Surnames having a derivation from nicknames form the broadest and most miscellaneous class of surnames, encompassing many different types of origin. The most typical classes refer adjectivally to the general physical aspect of the person concerned, or to his character. Many nicknames refer to a man’s size or height, while others make reference to a favoured article of clothing or style of dress.
Many surnames derived from the names of animals and birds. In the Middle Ages ideas were held about the characters of other living creatures, based on observation, and these associations were reflected and reinforced by large bodies of folk tales featuring animals behaving as humans. The name is also spelt MEK, MEKE, MEEKE and MEEKS.
Early records of the name mention Richard Mek who was documented in County Somerset in the year 1279. Robert le Meke was recorded in Yorkshire in the year 1300. Alicia Meke of Yorkshire, who was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. John Martin and Jane Meek were married at St. Antholin, London in the year 1692. Anthony Meek and Elizabeth Cook were married at the same church in the year 1697.
Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name.
A family of this name held lands from the abbots of Cupar from the middle of the fifteenth century. William Mek had a tack of part of Cowbyr in 1457, and Will Meyk was the tenant of Coupergrange in 1468. A Robert Meik was made burgess of Perth in 1545, and John Meyk was a Blackfriar of Perth in 1549. Margaret Meike was a resident in the parish of Borgue in 1684, and five more of the name are recorded in the Commissariot Record of Dunkeld. (This was the record of the commissary court which had jurisdiction over domestic relations).