6,628 Global BEHNKE Family Members

BEHNKE Family History

This famous surname, one of the earliest recorded in history, and recorded in over two hundred spellings from Benedicte, Benech, Behnke, Benkhe and Bennet, to Banish, Beinosovitch and Vedyasov, derives from the Roman personal name "Benedictus", meaning blessed. The name owed its original popularity to St. Benedict (circa 480 - 550), who founded the Benedictine order of monks at Monte Cassino in Italy, and wrote the monastic rules that formed a model for all subsequent orders. The name was originally given only to members of the church, and particularly those in monastic orders. It became popular as a personal name for all members of society only after the famous Crusades to the Holy Land in the 12th century when it became the practice for returning soldiers or pilgrims to call their children after saints or prominent members of the early church...