Dank

Recorded in many forms including Dank, Tank, Dankuth, Dankus, Tankus, and compounds such as Dankwart, Tankwart, Dankhart, Dankolk, Dankmar, and others, this is a Germanic surname. It derives either from the pre 7th century word 'pank' meaning thought, many early names were concerned with abstracts such as mind, thought, or heaven, or it may be topographical and as such describe a marsh dweller. This is from the early English word 'dank' meaning damp and high in humidity, which was apparently 'borrowed' by the Anglo-Saxons, and those that did not settle in England, must have taken it back to Germany. Topographical surnames were amongst the earliest to be created, as it was the easiest form of identification to call somebody by the name of the natural feature in the landscape by which they lived. early examples of the surname recoredings taken from early surviving german registers and charters include BenzDankwolf of Horb in the year 1317, and Johannes Dankuth of Ochsenhausen in the year 1499..