Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • German : from Balke ‘timber’, ‘beam’; hence a metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.
  • German : variant of Balk.
  • Norwegian : habitational name from a farmstead named Balke, from Old Norse balkr ‘beam’, used in the sense ‘ridge’.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe