Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin clericus. Variants include Clerk [1] and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name.
Clarke is a common surname in Ireland. The Irish version of the surname is believed to have come from County Galway and County Antrim and spread to County Donegal and County Dublin. The name is derived from the Irish Gaelic sept Ó Cléirigh , meaning "clerk". [2]
Clarke, as well as Clark, is also a widespread surname in England. The English version is of Anglo-Saxon origin and was used in the Middle Ages for the name of a scribe or secretary. The word "clerc", which came from the pre-7th century Old English "Cler(e)c" (meaning priest), originally denoted a member of a religious order, but later became widespread. In the Middle Ages, virtually the only people who could read and write were members of religious orders, linking the word with literacy. Thus the surname became a popular term for a literate man, particularly for the professional secretary and the scholar. [3] The English surnames Clarke and Clark are spelling variations. Beauclerk is a related surname, from the Anglo-Norman meaning "fine scholar", and the French surname Leclerc is in the same family of names. [4]
Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin clericus meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated. Clark evolved from "clerk". First records of the name are found in 12th-century England. The name has many variants.
Walker is an English and Scottish surname.
Trevor is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh tre(f), meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and fawr, meaning "large, big". The Cornish language equivalent is Trevorrow and is most associated with Ludgvan.
Cooper is a surname.
Lewis is a surname in the English language. It has several independent origins.
In the 2010 United States Census, Foster ranked #99 in surname popularity.
The surname Collins has a variety of likely origins in Britain and Ireland:
The word brook derives from the Old English broc and appears in the Medieval predecessors of Brooks. The surname arrived in North America from England in the mid-seventeenth century.
Bell is a surname common in English speaking countries with several word-origins.
Griffin is a surname of Irish, English and Welsh origin. Griffin was the 75th most common surname on the island of Ireland in 1891. It was estimated in 2000 that Griffin is the 114th most common surname in the U.S., with a population in the order of two hundred thousand.
Riley is a surname of English origin, as well as an Anglicized version of an Irish surname.
Lindsay is both a Scottish surname and a given name. The given name comes from the Scottish surname and clan name, which comes from the toponym Lindsey, which in turn comes from the Old English toponym Lindesege for the city of Lincoln, in which Lind is the original Brittonic form of the name of Lincoln and island refers to Lincoln being an island in the surrounding fenland. Lindum Colonia was the Roman name of the settlement which is now the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. Lindum was a Latinized form of a native Brittonic name which has been reconstructed as *Lindon, which means "pool" or "lake" and refers to the Brayford Pool.
Richards is a Celtic Welsh, or Cornish surname based on the English version of the parent's name ending in -S. In 1881 people with this surname were mainly located in Wales, Cornwall and adjacent South-West counties of England. By 1998 many Welsh and Cornish people had migrated to cities in England particularly those adjacent to these areas. The name is derived from the Germanic ric ("power") and hard ("brave"/"hardy").
West is a surname.
Mitchell or Mitchel is an English, Scottish and Irish surname with three etymological origins. In some cases, the name is derived from the Middle English and Old French name Michel, a vernacular form of the name Michael. The personal name Michael is ultimately derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "Who is like God". In other cases, the surname is derived from the Middle English words michel, mechel, and muchel, meaning "big". In some cases, the surname was adopted as an equivalent of Mulvihill; this English-language surname is derived from the Irish-language Ó Maoilmhichíl, meaning "descendant of the devotee of St. Michael".
George is a surname of Irish, English, Welsh, South Indian Christian, Middle Eastern Christian, French, or Native American origin. The German form is Georg. Notable people with the surname include:
Maxwell is a Scottish surname, a habitational name derived from a location near Melrose, in Roxburghshire, Scotland. This name was first recorded in 1144, as Mackeswell, meaning "Mack's spring ". The surname Maxwell is also common in Ulster, where it has, in some cases, been adopted as alternate form of the Irish surname Miskell. The surname Maxwell is represented in Scottish Gaelic as MacSuail.
Phillips is a common patronymic surname of English and Welsh origin that derives from the given name Philip.
Sheridan is an Irish surname. It is derived from the Irish Gaelic Ó Sirideáin 'descendant of Sirideáin', a given name meaning 'to seek'. Originating in County Longford, the Sheridans were erenaghs of Granard, but in the County Cavan served the O'Reillys.
Quinn is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Coinn or Mac Cuinn. The latter surname means "descendant of Conn". The surname Quinn is also rendered Ó Cuinn or Mac Cuinn in Irish. The surname is borne by several unrelated families in Ireland, especially in the northern province of Ulster and also the counties of Clare, Longford, and Mayo. According to the historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Quins were part of the Conmaicne Rein tribe in Ireland who came from the Erainn tribe who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland from about 500 and 100 BC. The most notable family of the name are that of Thomond, a Dalcassian sept, who derive their surname from Niall Ó Cuinn who was slain at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This family was formerly represented by the Earls of Dunraven. Another family is that seated in Annaly, who were related to the O'Farrell lords of Longford. Another Quinn family was seated at An Chraobh, County Tyrone and they were related to the O'Neill Kings of Tír Eoghain and for whom they acted as Hereditary Quartermasters. Other families include one seated in Antrim; one seated in Raphoe; and one called Clann Cuain, seated near Castlebar. In the seventeenth century, the surname Quinn was common in Waterford. In 1890, the surname was numerous in Dublin, Tyrone, Antrim, and Roscommon. Quinn is one of the twenty most common surnames in Ireland. The surname Quinn is sometimes associated with Catholics, while Quin is associated with Protestants.