Monk Family History

English: nickname for someone of monkish habits or appearance, or an occupational name for a servant employed at a monastery, from Middle English munk, monk ‘monk’ (Old English munuc, munec, from Late Latin monachus, Greek monakhos ‘solitary’, a derivative of monos ‘alone’). North German (Mönk) and Dutch: equivalent of 1, from Middle Low German monik, Middle Dutch moni(n)c, mun(i)c. Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó Muineaog (see Minogue) or Ó Manacháin (see Monahan). Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): occupational name for a miller or flour merchant, from Polish maka ‘flour’, ‘meal’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press