English: nickname from the animal, Middle English, Old English
fox. It may have denoted a cunning individual or been given to
someone with red hair or for some other anecdotal reason. This
relatively common and readily understood surname seems to have
absorbed some early examples of less transparent surnames derived from
the Germanic personal names mentioned at Faulks and
Foulks.
Irish: part translation of Gaelic Mac an
tSionnaigh ‘son of the fox’ (see Tinney).
Jewish
(American): translation of the Ashkenazic Jewish surname Fuchs.
Americanized spelling of Focks, a North German
patronymic from the personal name Fock (see
Volk).
Americanized spelling of Fochs, a North
German variant of Fuchs, or in some cases no doubt a
translation of Fuchs itself.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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