indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Occupational or status name for a member of a minor religious order or for a scholar Old French clerc from Late Latin clericus from Greek klerikos a derivative of kleros "inheritance legacy" with reference to the priestly tribe of Levites (see Levy ) "whose inheritance was the Lord". In medieval Christian Europe clergy in minor orders were permitted to marry and so found families; thus the surname could become established. In the Middle Ages it was virtually only members of religious orders who learned to read and write so that the term clerc later came to denote any literate man a scholar (hence its modern meaning "scribe secretary" or "clerk"). French cognate of Clark and variant of Leclerc.