Clark
A classic occupational surname for a clerk or learned scribe—someone who could read and write.
The #27 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 549 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Clark comes from Middle English clerk, from Old French cler(c), ultimately from Latin clericus, meaning a clergyman or cleric. In medieval usage, the word came to mean a learned man, especially one trained to read and write and to keep records. The surname was first applied to someone who worked as a clerk, secretary, or writer, rather than to a person named for the modern idea of an office clerk.
History
The name is very common in Britain and later spread widely to North America and other English-speaking countries. Historical surname writers often note Clark as one of the commonest English surnames, with Clarke as a close spelling variant. Because literacy and record-keeping were valuable medieval skills, the occupational label became especially productive as a hereditary family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books like Lower joked that every few hammermen there was at least one 'ready writer' among the Clarks and Clarkes.
From the historical record
“CLARENCE. CLARANCE. See Clare. CLARK. CLARKE. Lat. clericus. Fr. Le Cletc. A learned person — that is, one who could in old times read and write — accomplishments not so rare, after all, as Ave are sometimes induced to think, since this is among the commonest of surnames. Clark stands 27th and Clarke 39th in the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Clark
- Helen Clark (b. 1950)
- Blake Clark (b. 1946)
- Jim Clark (1936–1968)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.