Hanks is the surname of:
- Carol Hanks Aucamp (born 1943), outstanding tennis player
- Colin Hanks (born 1977), American actor
- Ebenezer Hanks (1815-1884), Mormon pioneer and businessman
- Ephraim Hanks (1826-1896), prominent member of the 19th-century Latter Day Saint movement
- Fletcher Hanks (circa 1879-1970), cartoonist
- James M. Hanks (1833-1909), member of the United States House of Representatives
- Jim Hanks (born 1961), American voice-over artist and character actor
- Kerri Hanks (born 1985), American footballer
- Merton Hanks (born 1968), American former National Football League safety
- Mike Hanks, American college basketball coach
- Nancy Lincoln(1784-1818), maiden name Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln
- Nancy Hanks (NEA), second chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts
- Patrick Hanks (born 1940), English lexicographer and corpus linguist
- Sam Hanks (1914-1994), American race car driver
- Thomas C. Hanks, American seismologist
- Tom Hanks (born 1956), American two-time Academy Award-winning film actor
- William Hanks (born 1952), American anthropologist and linguist