Shanks Surname: Origin, Meaning & Coat of Arms

Families named Shanks share their surname's story with Shank, its better-known spelling. The family name meaning is “Long legs”, the same as for Shank.

Spelling and variants

The extra ending in Shanks is patronymic: it identified a person as belonging to Shank's family. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written.

According to the 2010 US Census, the Shanks surname had 11,822 bearers. It sits among the 5,000 most common last names in the country.

Heraldry and the Shanks name

Heraldry is personal: arms associated with the Shank surname were borne by specific families, and sharing the name does not mean sharing the blazon.

Get the complete Shanks report, with a museum-style coat of arms.