Quek is a Chinese, English, and German surname.

Origins

The

English surname English names are personal names used in, or originating in, England. In England, as elsewhere in the English-speaking world, a complete name usually consists of one or more given names, commonly referred to as first names, and a (most commonly ...

Quek is an alternative spelling of

Quick Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed. Quick may also refer to: In business * Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain * Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear * Quick (automobile), a ...

, which originated from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

and earlier

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, both meaning 'lively' or 'nimble'. Quex and Quekes,

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name,

s referring to Quex in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, are derived from ''Quek'' plus the

English possessive In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners (also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun) or of nouns. For nouns, noun ph ...

marker ''s''. As a

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, ...

, Quek is found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

among

Overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

communities in Malaysia and in Singapore as an approximation of

Southern Min Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...

pronunciations of the surname whose

Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern Standard language, standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the Republic of ...

pronunciation is spelled in

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...

as Guō (). Other Southern Min-derived spellings of the same surname include Kek, Kerk, Kuek, Kweh, and Kwek. The

German surname Personal names in German-speaking Europe consist of one or several given names (''Vorname'', plural ''Vornamen'') and a surname (''Nachname, Familienname''). The ''Vorname'' is usually gender-specific. A name is usually cited in the "Name order, ...

Quek is a variant spelling of Queck, which is usually derived from

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

Middle Low German Middle Low German is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in writing since about 1225–34 (). During the Hanseatic period (from about 1300 to about 1600), Mid ...

'lively'. In some cases it may have originated as an

occupational surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

for a farmer or a cattle dealer, from 'living animal'. Despite the similarity in spelling, based on the geographic distribution of the surname within Germany, it is generally believed to be unrelated to the placename in

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

Statistics

The 2010 United States Census found 167 people with the surname Quek, making it the 105,670th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 127 people (124,872nd-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, about five percent of the bearers of the surname identified as

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

, and about nine-tenths as non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander.

People

*Quek Kee Siong (; – after 1980), Singaporean man executed for the

murder of Cheng Geok Ha On the morning of 25 November 1977, ten-year-old schoolgirl Cheng Geok Ha (; – 25 November 1977) was last seen playing with her two friends at the carpark below her flat at Chai Chee, Singapore. According to the pair who were last with Che ...

Quek Leng Chan Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan (; born December 8, 1941) is a Malaysian tycoon who co-founded Hong Leong Group Malaysia. In 2018, Quek Leng Chan ranked #217 on the ''Forbes'' World's Billionaires list, with wealth listed at US$7.2 billion. As of Februar ...

(; born 1941), Malaysian businessman *

Quek Swee Hwa Quek Swee Hwa (born 1941) is a Singaporean pastor and theologian. He was the founding principal of the Biblical Graduate School of Theology. He served as the General Secretary of the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC), succeedi ...

(; born 1941), Singaporean pastor *

Quek Loo Ming On 31 December 2001, while volunteering at an end-of-year event, 56-year-old Quek Loo Ming (郭禄明 Guō Lùmíng), a retired laboratory officer, spiked a bottle of water with methomyl and offered it to the chairperson of a resident's committee ...

(; born 1945), Singaporean former laboratory officer and convicted killer * Deborah Evans-Quek (born 1961), Welsh chess player * Justin Quek (; born 1962), Singaporean chef * Phyllis Quek (; born 1972), Malaysian model *Grace Quek (; born ), Singaporean pornographic actress who used the stage name

Annabel Chong Grace Quek (), known professionally as Annabel Chong, is a Singaporean former pornographic actress who became famous after starring in an adult film that was promoted as the ''World's Biggest Gang Bang''. The film was commercially successful ...

* Jill Quek (born 1978), Singaporean footballer *

Quek See Ling Quek See Ling (; born in October 1986 in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia) is a Singaporean poet, writer, Chinese ink painter, independent publisher, editor, instructor of Chinese creative writing. Education After graduating from Foon Yew Primar ...

(; born 1986), Singaporean writer *

Sam Quek Samantha Ann Quek (born 18 October 1988) is an English former field hockey player and television presenter. She played as a defender for both the England women's national field hockey team, England and Great Britain women's national field hockey ...

(born 1988), English field hockey player *

Calvin Quek Jun Jie Calvin Quek is a Singapore sprinter who specialises in the 400m and 400m hurdles. As a schoolboy, Quek was a perennial medallist at National Schools in both events. He first broke the 400m hurdles national record in February 2022 with a t ...

(born 1996), Singaporean sprinter

References

{{reflist English-language surnames German-language surnames Hokkien-language surnames