Tak (surname)
Tak is a Dutch, English, Indian, and Korean surname.
| Language(s) | Dutch, Middle English, Old French, Korean |
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| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) |
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Origins edit
The Dutch surname Tak originated both from the Dutch-language word tak "tree branch", and as a diminutive of the Germanic given name Theuderic.[1]
As an English surname, Tak is a historical spelling of Tagg, which originated in a variety of ways, including as a diminutive of various Germanic names starting with Dag- (e.g. Dagobert), and as a nickname possibly from Middle English tagge "tatter" (referring to a person wearing tattered clothes) or from Old French tache "belt buckle". One early record of a person with a surname spelled Tak is Hugo Tak of Rushden, Northamptonshire, in the Poll Tax of 1379.[2]
Tak is also a variant spelling of the Indian surname Taunk.[citation needed]
The Korean surname spelled Tak (Korean: 탁) in the Revised Romanization of Korean is written with the hanja nopeul tak (높을 탁; 卓), meaning "lofty" or "outstanding".[3] The same character is used to write the Chinese surname now pronounced Zhuó in Mandarin Chinese. The major bon-gwan (clan hometown) for people with this surname is Gwangsan, Gwangju. See Gwangsan Tak clan.[4]
Statistics edit
In the Netherlands, there were 1,579 people with the surname Tak in 2007, up from 1,203 in 1947. The largest numbers of bearers of the surname were found two municipalities in North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands: Halderberge (191 people) and Roosendaal (139 people).[1]
The 2000 South Korean census recorded 19,395 people in 6,023 households with the surname spelled Tak in the Revised Romanization of Korean. Of these, 17,322 people in 5,381 households identified their clan's bon-gwan as Gwangsan or Gwangju, and 1,368 people in 433 households as Gapyeong, while the remaining 705 people in 209 households identified other places as their bon-gwan or did not state their bon-gwan.[3] Bearers of this surname usually but not always choose to spell it as Tak in the Latin alphabet. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on year 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 73.6% of people with that surname spelled it in Latin letters as Tak in their passports. Rarer alternative spellings included Tag, Taek, and Tark.[5]
The 2010 United States census found 854 people with the surname Tak, making it the 28,856th-most-common surname in the country. This represented an increase from 653 people (33,054th-most-common) in the 2000 census. In both censuses, more than eight-tenths of bearers of the surname identified as Asian, and about one-tenth as non-Hispanic white.[6]
People edit
- Pieter Lodewijk Tak (1848–1907), Dutch journalist and politician
- Tak In-suk (born 1949), North Korean speed skater
- Ad Tak (born 1953), Dutch cyclist
- Bibi Dumon Tak (born 1964), Dutch writer of children's literature
- Tak Jung-im (탁정임; 卓貞任; born 1967), South Korean fencer
- Tak Jae-hoon (탁재훈; 卓在勳), stage name of Bae Sung-woo (born 1968), South Korean singer
- Tak Jae-in (탁재인; fl. 1980s), South Korean voice actor
- Paul-Peter Tak (fl. 1990s–present), Dutch immunologist
- Mahinder Tak (fl. 2008), American radiation oncologist and retired US Army colonel of Indian descent
- Meng Heang Tak (fl. 2018–present), Cambodian-born Australian politician
References edit
- ^ a b "Tak". Nederlandse Familienamenbank. Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter, eds. (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Oxford University Press. p. 2616. ISBN 9780192527479.
- ^ a b "행정구역(구시군)/성씨·본관별 가구 및 인구" [Family names by administrative region (district, city, county): separated by bon-gwan, households and individuals]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
- ^ 성씨유래검색: 탁(卓) [Searching for surname origins: Tak]. Daejeon: Jokbo Museum. Retrieved 6 August 2021. The Jokbo Museum cites the following work for their pages on family names: 김진우 (2009). 한국인 의 역사 [The History of Koreans]. 春秋筆法 [Chunchu Pilbeop]. OCLC 502157619.
- ^ 성씨 로마자 표기 방안: 마련을 위한 토론회 [Plan for romanisation of surnames: a preparatory discussion]. National Institute of the Korean Language. 25 June 2009. p. 61. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ "How common is your last name? (Tak)". Newsday. Retrieved 6 August 2021.