I am looking for the origin of the surname GERKEN. It is from my German line and they supposedly originated around Bremen but that just maybe because that was the port they left from. They left Germany in 1865. Thanks Robin

GERKEN - patronymical version of Gereke, the Low German diminuative form of Gerhard (Germanic roots "ger" = spear and "harti"= hard) The name if relatively common (with about 3000 Gerken and Gerkens entries in the German telephone directory) and appear pedominately in the Region around Bremen and Hamburg. Regards, Ingolf Vogel ----- Original Message ----- From: <Rmgalage@cs.com> To: <SURNAME-ORIGINS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 5:15 PM Subject: [SURNAME-ORIGINS] GERKEN > I am looking for the origin of the surname GERKEN. > It is from my German line and they supposedly originated around Bremen but > that just maybe because that was the port they left from. They left Germany > in 1865. Thanks > > Robin > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >