Clarke History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Clarke is Anglo-Saxon in origin. It was a name given to a person who concerned himself with matters of scholarly importance or of religious orders or as a secretary. The surname Clarke originally derived from the Latin form clericus. 1 2 3

“A learned person-that is, one who could in old times read and write-accomplishments not so rare, after all, as we are sometimes induced to think, since this is among the commonest of surnames. “4

“As all writing and secretarial work in the Middle Ages was done by the clergy, the term came to mean ‘scholar, secretary, recorder or penraan’.” 5

Early Origins of the Clarke family

The surname Clarke was first found in Hampshire where Richerius clericus was registered in the Domesday Book of 1086. 6 A few years later in Somerset, Willelm de Clerec was registered c. 1100 and a hundred or so years later, Reginald Clerc was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls for Rutland in 1205. In Lincolnshire, the first record there was John le Clerk in 1272. 5

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 proved the widespread use of the name at that time: Boniface Clericus, Lincolnshire; Thomas le Clerk, Lincolnshire; Batekyn Clericus, Essex; Gilbert le Clerk, Oxfordshire; and Thomas le Clerck, Buckinghamshire. 1

In Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 included: Robertus Clarke; Beatrix Clerc; Henricus Clerk; Robertus Clerk’ et Johanna uxor ejus; and Agnes Clerk. 1

The name is “universally distributed over England, but most numerous in its centre. Absent in Wales, and scarce in most of the counties on the Welsh border. Not frequent in most of the south – west great counties. Best represented in Buckinghamshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Nottinghamshire. As in the counties of Nottinghamshire and Shropshire, it would sometimes appear that the terminal e signifies a transference from the Trade to the Court Directory. Clark is found over a large part of Scotland, but is rare in the northern part.” 7