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Surname Etymology and Meaning of PICK

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

1. English (mainly East Midlands), Dutch, and German: from Middle English pi(c)k, Middle Dutch picke, Middle High German bicke ‘pick’, ‘pickaxe’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who made pickaxes or used them as an agricultural or excavating tool.
2. North German: metonymic occupational name for a pitch-burner, from Low German pick ‘pitch’.
3. English: possibly from Middle English pike ‘pike’ (the fish), applied as a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or seller of these fish, or as a descriptive nickname for someone thought to resemple a pike in some way.
4. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): unexplained.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)