The Kirk Family

 The Origins of the Kirk Name.

Kirk is an Anglo-Scottish surname from Norwegian pre 7th century origins.

In Britain it was found originally in the north of England and in Scotland, it can be either a name denoting residence near a church or an occupational name for someone employed in a church.

The derivation of the name in both cases is from the Northern Middle English word "kirk", church, from the Old Norse "kirkja". 

Both kirk and church possibly originally derive from the Koine Greek κυριακόν (δωμα) (kyriakon (dōma)) meaning Lord's (house), which was borrowed into the Germanic languages in late antiquity, possibly in the course of the Gothic missions.

In England the surname development has included: Richard Attekirck (1301, Yorkshire); Adam Ofthenkirke (1308, Suffolk); and Robert de Kirke (1379, Yorkshire).

In Scotland the surname is first recorded in 1456, in the Register of the Abbey of Aberbrothoc, where Sir Patrick Kyrk appears as chaplain of the altar of St. Mary in Perth, while Alexander Kirk was bailie of St. Andrews in 1520.

A Coat of Arms granted to a Kirk family is a gold crosier, and silver sword saltireways, on a gold chief a green thistle, all on a red shield.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Reginald Attekireke, which was dated 1209, in the "Fines Court Records of Lincolnshire". *

The Kirk paternal lineage ...