The fox Surname
fox Name Meaning and History
- 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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