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Occupational surname derived from Latin 'clericus' via Old English 'clerc', meaning a clergyman, scholar, or literate man — in medieval society, the clergy held a near-monopoly on literacy, so 'clerk' described anyone who could read and write. The name entered Scotland via Norman French after the twelfth century, alongside the expansion of ecclesiastical administration. The Scottish form 'Clark' (without a final 'e') is slightly more common than 'Clarke' in Scotland, and the name is distributed broadly across both Highlands and Lowlands.