Family name origins & meanings
- English (mainly northern) : topographic name for someone who lived on a hill or at the rear of a settlement, from Middle English bakke ‘back’, ‘spine’ + man ‘man’. Compare Backer.
- Swedish : ornamental name composed of the elements back(e) ‘hill’ + man ‘man’.
- Swedish (Bäck(man)) : ornamental name composed of the elements bäck ‘stream’ + man ‘man’.
- German : variant of Bachmann.
- German : occupational name for a baker or employee of a master baker, from backen ‘to bake’ + man(n) ‘man’. Compare Beckmann.