Family name origins & meanings
- German and Frisian : patronymic from the personal name Kanke, a short form of Johannes or Johanna, the feminine form; both are still common personal names in present-day Dutch Friesland.
- German and Frisian : nickname for someone who habitually pretended to be unable to do something, with the sense of ‘cannot’ in Low German, or alternatively a nickname for someone thought to resemble a rabbit in some way, from the word Kaninchen.