What nationality is the last name of Banker?

Question

What nationality is the last name of Banker?

Answer 1

This name, with variant spellings Bankes and Banker, derives from the Northern Middle English "bank(e)", itself coming from the Old Danish "banke" meaning a ridge or hillside, and was originally given as a topographical name to someone who lived on the slope of a hillside or by a riverbank. The final "s" on the name preserves the Olde English genitive ending i.e., "of the bank". The surname was first recorded towards the end of the 13th Century (see below). One Matthew Banke appeared in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk, dated 1327, and on June 21st 1546, Alse, daughter of John Banks, was christened in St. Antholin's, Budge Row, London. A John Banks of Devon was entered in the Oxford University Register, dated 1597. The famous "dancing horse", Morocco, to which allusion is made by all the best authors of the day, was owned by the Scottish showman, Banks, who flourished 1588 - 1637. The works of Sir Edward Banks (1769 - 1835), who was knighted 1822, include Waterloo, Southwark, and London Bridges. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter del Banck, which was dated 1297, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307.

http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?na...

Answer 2

Banker Name Meaning and History

English: topographic name from northern Middle English bank(e) ‘hillside slope’, ‘riverbank’ + the suffix -er denoting an inhabitant (see Banks).

Scottish: habitational name from Bankier in Stirlingshire.

Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name from Polish bankier ‘banker’.

German (Bänker): occupational name from an agent derivative of Middle Low German banc ‘bench’, ‘counter’ (see Bank).

Answer 3

My guess would be British, as all last names typically came from the occupation or a trait of a person and banker is an english word for an occupation. Just my guess.

Answer 4

I believe it is the Nationality of Entrepreneurs!

Actually, it is of English derivation and meant "dweller on a hillside [bank]" from the website, http://genealogy.about.com/od/surnames/a...

It is fairly common for different branches of the same family to carry different last names, as the majority of English and American surnames have, in their history, appeared in four to more than a dozen variant spellings. Therefore, when researching the origin of your surname, it is important to work your way back through the generations in order to determine the original family name, as the surname that you carry now may have an entirely different meaning than the surname of your distant ancestor. It is also important to remember that some surnames, though their origins may appear obvious, aren't what they seem. BANKER, for example, is not an occupational surname, instead meaning "dweller on a hillside."