Rake Family History

English: topographic name from Middle English rake ‘pass steep track narrow path up a hill’ (perhaps a transferred use of Old English hraca ‘throat’) for someone who lived at or near such a feature or a habitational name from any of the minor places deriving their name from this word such as The Rake (Sussex), Raikes Farm (Surrey), and Raikes (Yorkshire).

English: in northern England perhaps sometimes a habitational name from a minor place called with Middle English rake (Old Scandinavian rák) ‘cattle track pasture ground’, a sense recorded in northwestern England.

Dutch: from Middle Dutch rake ‘rake’, applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such implements or as a nickname for a tall thin man.