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Clarke

Surname list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
6 min read
Source updated September 15, 2026

Clarke is a surname which means "clerk". The surname is of English and Irish origin and comes from the Latin clericus. Variants include Clerk and Clark. Clarke is also uncommonly chosen as a given name.

01Irish surname origin

Clarke is a common surname in Ireland. The Irish version of the surname is believed to have come from County Galway and County Antrim and spread to County Donegal and County Dublin. The name is derived from the Irish Gaelic sept Ó Cléirigh, meaning "clerk".

02English surname origin

Clarke, as well as Clark, is also a widespread surname in England. The English version is of Anglo-Saxon origin and was used in the Middle Ages for the name of a scribe or secretary. The word "clerc", which came from the pre-7th century Old English "Cler(e)c" (meaning priest), originally denoted a member of a religious order, but later became widespread. In the Middle Ages, virtually the only people who could read and write were members of religious orders, linking the word with literacy. Thus the surname became a popular term for a literate man, particularly for the professional secretary and the scholar. The English surnames Clarke and Clark are spelling variations. Beauclerk is a related surname, from the Anglo-Norman meaning "fine scholar", and the French surname Leclerc is in the same family of names.

03People with the surname

04Fictional characters

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Clarke”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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