Hendricks

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English or Welsh origin, carried by many people and also given to several places in the United States
2. A surname of Welsh and English origin shared by numerous individuals, and used as the name of some American towns and counties
3. The patronymic family name of many people in English-speaking countries, also applied to various localities in the United States

Etymology: Hendricks is a patronymic surname, meaning "son of Hendrick." Hendrick is itself a Dutch and German form of the given name Henry, which came from the Germanic elements "haim" (home) and "ric" (power, ruler). The ending "-s" is the same genitive-style suffix found in English names like Jones, Williams and Roberts, where it marks "the son of" the named man. The name spread with Dutch and German settlers, especially in New York and Pennsylvania, where Hendrick was a common first name in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A family called Hendricks therefore usually descends from a forefather named Hendrick rather than from anyone called Hendricks himself.