The name Sankey appears to originate uniquely from the north shore of the Mersey River in England, where a township of that name predates the Norman conquest. Early documents mostly use the form Sonky; the variant Sainty arose more recently in East Anglia, Sinkey in Pennsylvania ca.1800. In early times, surnames as we know them today did not exist. Anyone living in the area would have used the form "de Sankey" to denote where they lived. So, holders of the name are not necessarily related. Given the history of the area, people with this surname should be of Viking, French or Saxon provenance, with a chance of earlier Briton.