Anker

See also: anker

Danish

Etymology

Uncertain; appears as Ankarl in 14th century documents; possibly originally a nickname for a seasonal farm worker.

Proper noun

Anker

1. a male given name

German

Etymology

From Middle High German anker, from Old High German anker, ankero, from Proto-West Germanic *ankurō, from Proto-Germanic *ankurô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʔaŋkɐ/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Anker m (strong, genitive Ankers, plural Anker)

1. anchor

   vor Anker gehen ― drop anchor

   Anker lichten ― raise the anchor

Declension

Declension of Anker [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Anker	die	Anker
genitive	eines	des	Ankers	der	Anker
dative	einem	dem	Anker	den	Ankern
accusative	einen	den	Anker	die	Anker

Hyponyms

• Buganker
• Notanker
• Rettungsanker

• Balkenanker
• Maueranker
• Ringanker
• Schraubanker
• Steinanker
• Zuganker

Derived terms

• ankern

Related terms

• Ankerhemmung
• Ankerkette
• Ankerplatz
• Ankerwinde
• Verankerung

Descendants

• → Latvian: enkurs
• → Lithuanian: iñkaras, añkaras
• → Kashubian: ãker
• → Polish: ankier (archaic)
• → Russian: а́нкер (ánker)

Further reading

• “Anker” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Anker” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Anker (Gerät, Schiff, Haken)” in Duden online
• “Anker (Maß, Flüssigkeiten)” in Duden online
• “Anker”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

Luxembourgish

Noun

Anker m (plural Ankeren)

1. anchor

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaŋ.kər/, [ˈaŋ.kəɾ]
• Rhymes: -aŋkər
• Hyphenation: An‧ker

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Danish Anker (“male given name”). The Danish name is a two-element name, with the first element meaning “harvest work, seasonal farm work” and the second element corresponding to kar (“man, fellow”); originally a byname meaning “farmhand, harvest worker”.

Compare Norwegian Nynorsk Anker, Danish Anker and Faroese Anker (“male given name”).

Proper noun

Anker

1. a male given name from Danish

Usage notes

• Anker was formerly restricted as a given name in Norway because it was also a surname, but that restriction was later lifted.
• Anker was most used as a Norwegian given name around 1915–1919.

Etymology 2

From the Danish-Norwegian and Swedish surname Anker, earlier also Ancher. The best-known Norwegian family of this name came to Norway from Sweden in 1668 with Erich Olsen Ancher; the family name is connected with his father Olof Erichsson, an ankersmed (“anchor smith”) in Gothenburg.

Compare Danish Anker, Swedish Anker, German Anker and Dutch Anker (“surname”).

Proper noun

Anker

1. a surname originating as an occupation, from an occupational byname referring to an anchor smith or anchor maker

Alternative forms

• Ancher (older spelling; surname)

Statistics

• According to Store norske leksikon, approximately 1,100 men born in Norway in the period 1900–2017 had Anker as their sole given name or first given name.
• According to Statistics Norway, 213 people in Norway had Anker as a surname in 2025.

References

• “Anker – mannsnamn” in Store norske leksikon.
• “Anker – slekt” in Store norske leksikon.
• “Anker (slekt)” at Lokalhistoriewiki.

Anagrams

• arken, karen, ranke