Family name origins & meanings
- 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).