Clerk ( or ) is a

patronymic surname A patronymic surname is a surname originated from the given name of the father or a patrilineal ancestor. Different cultures have different ways of producing patronymic surnames. For example, early patronymic Welsh surnames were the result of t ...

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the i ...

and Scottish-Gaelic origin, ultimately derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''clericus'' meaning "

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

", "

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

" or a

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated. ''Clark'' evolved from "

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

". First records of the name are found in 12th century England. The name has many variants. The surname is attached to particular families or noble lineages, such as the

Clerk baronets There has been one creation of a baronetcy with the surname Clerk () (as distinct from Clark, Clarke and Clerke). It was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia by Letters Patent dated 24 March 1679, for John Clerk of Pennycuik (or Penicuik; s ...

, created in the

Baronetage of Nova Scotia Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain. Baronetage of England (1611–1705) King James I ...

Letters Patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, tit ...

, dated 24 March 1679, and the Ghanaian historic Clerk family of

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, a distinguished intellectual clan, founded in 1843, that produced a number of pioneering scholars and clergy on the Gold Coast. Other notable people with the surname include: * Alexander A. Clerk (born 1947), Ghanaian American sleep medicine specialist and psychiatrist *

Alexander Worthy Clerk Alexander Worthy Clerk (4 March 1820 – 11 February 1906) was a Jamaican Moravian pioneer missionary, teacher and clergyman who arrived in 1843 in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg, now Osu in Accra, Ghana, then known as the Go ...

(1820–1906), Jamaican Moravian missionary to the Gold Coast * Archibald Clerk (1813–1887), Church of Scotland minister and a leading Gaelic scholar of the Victorian era *

Carl Henry Clerk Carl Henry Clerk (4 January 1895 – 28 May 1982) was a Ghanaian agricultural educationist, administrator, journalist, editor and church minister who was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, assuming t ...

(1895–1982), Ghanaian agricultural educator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister * Dugald Clerk (1854–1932), Scottish engineer and designer of the world's first successful two-stroke engine * Gabrielle Clerk (1923–2012), Canadian psychologist and professor * George Clerk (disambiguation) ** George Clerk (diplomat) (1874–1951), British diplomat ** George C. Clerk (1931–2019), Ghanaian botanist and plant pathologist *

Sir George Clerk, 6th Baronet Sir George Clerk of Pennycuik, 6th Baronet (19 November 1787 – 23 December 1867) was a Scottish politician who served as the Tory MP for Edinburghshire, Stamford and Dover. Background Clerk was the son of Cpt. James Clerk (d.1793), t ...

(1787–1867), Scottish politician *

Sir George Clerk-Maxwell, 4th Baronet Sir George Clerk Maxwell, 4th Baronet FRSE (1715–1784), of Penicuik (simply Clerk prior to his marriage), was a Scottish landowner who served as the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer in Exchequer (1741), Commissioner of Customs (1763), a Trustee f ...

(1715–1784), Scottish landowner **

George Russell Clerk Sir George Russell Clerk (pronounced ''Clark''; – 25 July 1889) was a British civil servant in British India. Life Clerk was born at Worting House in Mortimer West End, Hampshire,''1851 England Census'' the son of John Clerk of Glouces ...

(1800–1889), civil servant in British India * Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet (died 1782) *

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

(1831–1879), Scottish mathematical physicist * Jane E. Clerk (1904–1999), pioneer woman educationalist administrator on the Gold Coast * John Clerk (disambiguation) **

John Clerk Maxwell of Middlebie John Clerk (later Clerk Maxwell) of Middlebie (1790–1856) was a Scottish advocate and father of the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Life He was born in Edinburgh on 10 November 1790, the son of Janet Irving and Captain James Clerk. ...

(1790–1856), Scottish advocate **

John Clerk of Eldin John Clerk of Eldin FRSE FSAScot (10 December 1728 – 10 May 1812) was a Scottish merchant, naval author, artist, geologist and landowner. The 7th son of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Bt, Clerk of Eldin was a figure in the Scottish Enlightenmen ...

(1728–1812), Scottish merchant, naval author, artist, geologist and landowner ** John Clerk of Pennycuik (1611–1674), Scottish merchant and archivist of family papers **

John Clerk, Lord Eldin John Clerk, Lord Eldin FRSE FSA (1757– 30 May1832) was a Scottish judge based in Edinburgh. Life He was the eldest son of Susannah Adam, the sister of John Adam and Robert Adam, and John Clerk of Eldin. He was born in April 1757 in Edinburg ...

(1757–1832), Scottish judge *

Sir John Clerk, 1st Baronet Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 1st Baronet (died 1722) was a Scottish politician, created a Baronet of Nova Scotia on 24 March 1679. Sir John was the eldest son of John Clerk of Penicuik and Mary, daughter of Sir William Gray of Pittendrum. From ...

(died 1722), Scottish politician *

Sir John Clerk, 2nd Baronet Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, 2nd Baronet (1676–1755) was a Scottish politician, lawyer, judge and composer. He was Vice-President of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, the pre-eminent learned society of the Scottish Enlightenment. He ...

(1676–1755), Scottish politician, lawyer, judge and composer *

Sir John Clerk, 5th Baronet Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, 5th Baronet FRSE (1736–1798) was a Royal Navy officer. Active in the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, he thereby became a founder fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh upon its formation in 1783. Life He ...

(1736–1798), Royal Navy officer *

Matilda J. Clerk Matilda Johanna Clerk (2 March 1916 – 27 December 1984) was a medical pioneer and a science educator on the Gold Coast and later in Ghana as well as the second Ghanaian woman to become an orthodox medicine-trained physician. The first wo ...

(1916–1984), Ghanaian medical pioneer and science educator * Nicholas Clerk (disambiguation) ** Nicholas Clerk ( fl. 1407), English politician and the Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Exeter in 1407 ** Nicholas T. Clerk (1930–2012), Ghanaian academic, administrator and Presbyterian minister **

Nicholas Timothy Clerk Nicholas Timothy Clerk (28 October 1862 – 16 August 1961) was a Protestant theologian, clergyman and pioneering missionary of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in southeast colonial Ghana. His father was the Jamaican Moravian mission ...

(1862–1961), Basel-trained theologian and missionary on the Gold Coast * Pauline M. Clerk (1935–2013), Ghanaian civil servant, diplomat and presidential advisor * Robert Clerk (disambiguation) **

Robert Clerk Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Clerk (c.1720 – 1797) was a British engineer officer who served in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. His report on the state of the defences of Rochefort (Rochefort, Charente-Maritime) in 17 ...

(–1797), British engineer officer * Theodore S. Clerk (1909–1965), Ghanaian urban planner and architect

References

{{surname English-language surnames Patronymic surnames Surnames of English origin Scottish surnames