This unusual name is the Low German diminutive form of the name Mayne, from the Continental Germanic personal name Maino, the first element meaning, strength or might. Thus the name is most likely to be a nickname for one with unusual strength, or even with unusually strong or large hands (the Olde French "Main", a hand). The name was introduced into Britain with the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the modern idiom, the variants include Mein(e)(c)ke, Menne(c)ke, Me(l)nke, and Menk. In London, one Christopher Meineke married Ulsa Margaret Arents on 9th December 1729, at St. Anns Soho, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Meine, which was dated 1205, Pipe Rolls Somerset, during the reign of King John "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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