Does anyone know the origin of the surname Sink and its original spelling?

Answer 1

Here's two of them:

Sink

Dutch, from Middle Dutch sinke, Middle High German zinke ‘trumpet’, ‘horn’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a musician.

Slovenian (central Slovenia; Šink): unexplained.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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Might be Chinese, too.

Every time I answer a "Surname Origin?" question, I think of the joke:

Man sees a sign, "Olaf Olafson's Chinese Restaurant". He goes in, orders a plate of chow mein, asks the Chinese gentleman behind the counter who is Olaf. Chinese gentleman says, "That's me! There I was at Ellis Island. The man in front of me was a Swede, six foot four, broad shoulders, red beard. They ask him 'Name?' he says 'Olaf Olafson', in a voice that makes the pens rattle in their holders. Off he goes to seek his fortune. They ask me 'Name?', I say 'Sam Ting', and here I am."

Seriously, you should have 16 surnames among your great great grandparents, unless you double up on Smith, Johnson, Miller or Jones or someone married a cousin.

If you are in the USA and trace your family tree, you might find a downtrodden immigrant who came through Ellis Island yearning to be free, a bootlegger, a flapper, a great uncle who died in the muddy trenches of France in 1917. You may find someone who marched off to fight in the Civil War (Maybe two, one wearing blue, one wearing grey). You may find a German who became Pennsylvania "Dutch", a Huguenot, an Irish Potato Famine immigrant. You might find someone who married at 18 and supported his family with musket, plow and axe in the howling wilderness we now call Ohio.

In the UK your chances of finding a homesteader are less, but your chances of finding that great uncle who served in WWI are better.

In Australia you may find someone who got a free ride to a new home, courtesy of the benevolent Government and HM Prison ship "Hope".

Your grandfather with that surname may have married a Scot, a Sioux, a Swede. HIS father, a stolid, dull protestant, may have married an Italian with flashing dark eyes, the first woman on the block to serve red wine in jelly glasses and use garlic in her stew. You'll never know if this is the only question you ask.

Answer 2

PLEASE
don't waste time with houseofnames.com
It is well documented in genealogy as being unreliable.
The reality is that "all Sinks/ Zenckes" etc, will not necessarily come from the same place. The real question is WHERE DID YOUR ANCESTOR come from?
Work it back, one generation at a time. Trying to use generalized theories is such a waste of time.

Answer 3

Ask your parents, they should know the meaning and original spelling.

Answer 4

Looks like it is a German name first found in Bavaria, if you look at this site below it is most interesting