Origin & History

Occupational surname derived from Old English 'cleric' or Medieval Latin 'clericus', meaning a clergyman or scholar — any literate person in an age when literacy was largely confined to the Church. In medieval England, a 'clerk' administered ecclesiastical and legal documents, and the term gradually extended to any literate man in a secretarial or administrative role. Both 'Clark' and 'Clarke' are common; the '-e' ending became fashionable as a mark of distinction in the nineteenth century.