Spike

See also: spike

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪk

Etymology 1

From spike, variously from having spiky hair, being thin (like a railroad spike), etc.

Proper noun

Spike

1. A male nickname.
   • 1995, Donna E. Norton, Through the eyes of a child: an introduction to children's literature, page 418:

     This book contains mostly humorous animal poems by poets such as Spike Milligan, Theodore Roethke, and Rudyard Kipling.

   • 2013, Zadie Smith, N-W, Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 238:

     He was meant to be called Benjamin, but he arrived with a little tuft of hair on top of his head, like a spike, and they called him Spike for three days, and then recalled a romantic, childless afternoon, years earlier, spent watching a matinee revival of She's Gotta Have It.

Etymology 2

From spike, perhaps a nickname for a tall, thin person.

Proper noun

Spike (plural Spikes)

1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Spike is the 36736^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 608 individuals. Spike is most common among White (81.74%) and Black/African American (12.99%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Spike”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

Anagrams

• Pikes, Sipek, kepis, kipes, pikes

German

Noun

Spike m (strong, genitive Spikes, plural Spikes)

1. spike (nail or something similar to it)

Declension

Declension of Spike [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Spike	die	Spikes
genitive	eines	des	Spikes	der	Spikes
dative	einem	dem	Spike	den	Spikes
accusative	einen	den	Spike	die	Spikes

Further reading

• “Spike” in Duden online