(male) Probably the most successful of all the Old French names of Germanic origin that were introduced to England by the Normans. It is derived from Germanic wil ‘will, desire’ + helm ‘helmet, protection’. The fact that it was borne by the Conqueror himself does not seem to have inhibited its favour with the ‘conquered’ population: in the first century after the Conquest it was the commonest male name of all, and not only among the Normans. In the later Middle Ages it was overtaken by John, but continued to run second to that name until the 20th century, when the picture became more fragmented.
Short forms: Will, Bill.
Pet forms: Willy, Willie, Billy.
Cognates: Irish: Uilliam. Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam. Welsh: Gwilym. German: Wilhelm. Dutch: Willem. Scandinavian: Vilhelm. French: Guillaume. Spanish: Guilermo. Catalan: Guillem. Portuguese: Guilherme. Italian: Guglielmo. Czech: Vilém. Slovenian: Viljem. Hungarian: Vilmos. Lithuanian: Vilhelmas. Latvian: Vilhelms.
English: topographic name for someone living by a pointed hill (or regional name from the Peak District (Old English Pēaclond) in Derbyshire), named with Old English pēac ‘peak’, ‘pointed hill’ (found only in place names). This word is not directly related to Old English pīc ‘point’, ‘pointed hill’, which yielded Pike; there is, however, some evidence of confusion between the two surnames.
Possibly also Irish: reduced form of McPeak.
FOREBEARS Major concentrations of the surname Peak are found in Staffordshire and the West Country of England. Among the earliest known bearers are Richard del Pech or del Pek (d. 1196), son of Rannulf, sheriff of Nottingham, and Richard del Peke settled in Denbighshire (now part of Clwyd), Wales, receiving lands from Henry de Lacey, earl of Lincoln, in return for helping to control the region. His descendants, who bear the name Peak(e), can be traced to the present day, and are found in New Zealand and Canada as well as in Britain. Peake is also the name of a family descended from John Pyke, who paid rent to the abbot of Leicester in 1477. The name took various forms, such as Peke and Pick, eventually becoming established as Peak in the 17th century.
