1,001 Global Clarkin Family Members

Clarkin Family History

This is an ancient and honourable surname. It is or rather was, an occupational surname for an educated person, a scribe or secretary. Derived from the pre 7th century Olde English word "clerec", meaning a priest, it originally denoted a member of a religious order, but in time it came to be used of any literate person, particularly a professional secretary or scholar. The surname was first recorded in the early 12th Century (see below), and other early recordings include: Reginald Clerc, in the Curia Regis Rolls of Rutland in 1205, and John le Clerk, in the "Transcripts of Charters relating to the Gilbertine Houses", of Lincolnshire in 1272.