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Clerks were originally lower-level orders of the clergy, such as the name Richerius Clericus which appeared in the Domesday Book.  They were usually the only ones in the village who could read or write.  In the Middle Ages, the common pronunciation of "clerk" was "clark."  Consequently Clark became an occupational name for a scribe or secretary.

In most of England, the surname pronunciation has tended to be "clark."  But in the northeast it has often been "clerk" (as it has been in America) and in Scotland sometimes "clack."

Select Clark/Clarke Resources on The Internet

• The Clark Family Tree.  Clarks from Hampshire.
• Clarks from England to New England.  A Clark family history.
• Clarke Ancestry.  A Clarke miscellany.
• The Clark Family.  Clarks from Suffolk to New England.
• The Clarks of Clark Road.  Clarks from Yorkshire to South Africa.
• The Clark Family Website.  Lafayette Oscar Clark from Illinois and descendants.
• Clark Surname DNA Project.  Clark/Clarke DNA.

England.   The earliest Clarkes seem to have come from Kent and from Kingsdown Hall there.  These Clarkes later spread into other counties.  The Clarke and Clark names were also strong in eastern England.  Clarkes appeared in the 1400's in Norfolk and they were an important family in 17th century Norwich.   Edward Clarke was an alderman in the town and his sons, Samuel and John, distinguished religious thinkers and clergymen.

The two spellings of the name - Clarke and Clark - have continued in England until the present day.  Clarkes and Clarks in the UK divide about 50/50 today (as opposed to the US where Clark predominates).

Scotland and Ireland.  There were similar Gaelic names meaning "clerk" which translated as Clark or Clarke.

In Scotland the MacChleirich name ("son of the clerk") was often anglicized to Clark.  The name was once prominent in Caithness.  It has since spread throughout Scotland.  Clarke is the Irish spelling, derived from the Gaelic sept O'Clerigh (meaning "clerk") in Galway.  The name is mainly found in Dublin and county Donegal today.

America.  Many of the early Clarks in New England originated from the English county of Suffolk:

• first, the brothers John and Joseph Clarke who arrived in Boston in 1637.  A year later they moved south to Rhode Island.  John founded a Baptist church there and was a co-founder of the colony.
• then, Thomas Clark who came with his wife Jane around 1640.  He also ended up in Rhode Island, dying in Newport in 1674.
• and finally Richard and Ann Clark who arrived in the 1650's and were among the first English settlers on Long Island (at Southold).

There were also notable early Clarks in Virginia and Kentucky.  One Clark family produced six sons who were officers in the Revolutionary War (including the eldest George who headed the Kentucky militia) and a youngest son William, he of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition.  James Clark, from another Clark family, was Governor of Kentucky in the 1830's.

Samuel Clarke, who worked with Isaac Newton, was considered the greatest metaphysician of his time.
William Tierney Clark was a British pioneer in the design and construction of suspension bridges.
William Clark was part of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition which crossed America overland for the first time to the West Coast.
Kenneth Clark was the British art historian and devisor of the TV series Civilization.
Arthur C. Clarke was the renowned science fiction writer, most known for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Jim Clark was the pioneer internet entrepreneur and founder of Netscape.