Talk:Clarkson (surname)

Quote itself
Why does this article quote itself? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.74.209.205 (talk • contribs) 10 May 2009

ie. The lead paragraph of the article Clarkson (surname) in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posits the view that: Clarkson is an early medieval... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.74.209.205 (talk • contribs) 10 May 2009

I'm noting here that I’ve just removed a lot of original research and unreferenced stuff. Claxton is a different surname.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 12:17, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Whether 'Claxton' is a 'different surname' is debatable. You obviously subscribe to the Cleric view of the origin of the Clarkson surname, which is unsupported, for the reasons outlined in the contributions you have removed (the arrogance of editors manque) and which I have included under the Discussion tab (in the interests of academic debate).

Please feel free to contribute to the discussion ("original research" and "unreferenced stuff" welcome in Discussion).

The name Claxton was first recorded as "Clachestona" (1091), "Clakestona" (1086, Doomsday Book) and may be the addition of the Olde English "tun", meaning an enclosure or settlement and later town or village, to the old Norn or Norse 'Clach' (pronounced "Clack"), meaning Stone, Hearthstone or Foundation Stone or ‘Clachair’ (often written "Clacher" or "Clache", but all versions pronounced "Clacker"), meaning Stonemason, rather than the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Clacc", or the Old Norse "Klakkr", both nicknames for Chatterer despite that posited at: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Claxton#ixzz1EHPkVmlf. Vocational surnames were used especially for those who left their original homes and went to live or work in another town or village.

Whilst not certain beyond doubt, it appears that the older forms of these names were found in the more rural, less populated (and perhaps less urbane areas) of the UK, but were ‘modernized’ or ‘anglicized’ as families moved.

The distribution of Clarkstone, Clarkston, Claxton, Claxson, Clarkeson, Clarkson, Clarksen, Clarckson, Clackson, Clakson and Clarson families compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1891 England and Wales Census Records and found at http://www.ancestry.com/facts/surname-family-history-uk.ashx notes that: The name Clarkstone (30 families) predominated in Nottinghamshire (77%) and Yorkshire (23%). The name Clarkston (30 families) predominated in Nottinghamshire (73%) and Yorkshire (13%), London (7%), Derbyshire (3%) and Lincolnshire (3%).

The name Claxton (2026 families) predominated in Norfolk (34%), London (15%), Yorkshire (12%) and Suffolk (6%). The name Claxson (7 families) predominated in Essex (57%), London (29%) and Suffolk (14%).

The name Clarkeson (35 families) predominated in Lancashire (54%), Staffordshire (20%), London (20%) and Hampshire 3%. The name Clarke (66752 families) predominated in London (13%), Lancashire (10%), Yorkshire (7%), Norfolk (4%), Suffolk (4%), Essex (3%), Warwickshire (5%), Cheshire (4%), Leicestershire (4%), Staffordshire (4%), Derbyshire (3%), Nottinghamshire (3%), Northamptonshire (3%), Devon (2%) and Lincolnshire (2%). The name Clache (7 families) predominated in Yorkshire (86%) and Shropshire (14%). The name Clacher (8 families) predominated in Essex (75%) and Lancashire (25%). The name Clarkson (7969 families) predominated in Yorkshire (37%), Lancashire (32%) and London (8%). The name Clarksen was shared by only 4 families, all in Staffordshire. The name Clark (75,628 families] predominated in London (21%), Yorkshire (11%), Lancashire (7%) and Essex (6%).

The name Clarckson (7 families) predominated in Lancashire (71%), Northumberland (14%) and Middlesex (14%). The name Clarck (19 families) predominated in Lincolnshire (42%), London (21%), Yorkshire (5%), Lancashire (5%) and Westmorland (5%), Surrey (5%), Dorset (5%), Somerset (5%) and Devon (5%).

The name Clackson (38 families) predominated in London (47%), Essex (21%), Lancashire (8%), Northumberland (5%), Worcestershire (5%), Cheshire (3%), Hertfordshire (3%), Middlesex (3%), Norfolk (3%) and Yorkshire (3%). The name Clack (1626 families) predominated in London (20%), Oxfordshire (14%), Yorkshire (8%), Berkshire (7%), Wiltshire (6%), Middlesex (5%) and Gloucestershire (3%).

The name Clakson (8 families) predominated in Kent (75%) and Lincolnshire (25%). The name Claksen was shared by one family in Lancashire. The name Clak (7 families) predominated in Nottinghamshire (43%), Buckinghamshire (14%), Essex (14%), Gloucestershire (14%) and Staffordshire (14%). The name Clake (67 families) predominated in Devon (18%), Gloucestershire (15%), Lancashire (15%), Buckinghamshire (12%), Warwickshire (12%), London (7%), Leicestershire (4%), Sussex (4%) and Cornwall (3%).

The name Clarson (104 families) predominated in Staffordshire (45%), Nottinghamshire (18%), Yorkshire (12%), Cheshire (11%) and Durham (11%).

The 1891 England and Wales Census Records shows no families named Clerckson, Clerkson, Clercson or Clericson in England and Wales, but the name Clerk (532 families) predominated in London (31%), Lancashire (11%) and Yorkshire (10%).

The lead paragraph of the article Clarkson (surname) in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posits the view of the surname Clarkson that:

"It is derived from a patronymic form of an occupational name. The surname means "son of the clerk",[1] and refers to a scribe or secretary. The surname is derived from the Old English clerc, clerec, which means priest; the Old English words were later reinforced by the Old French form of the word clerc. Both the Old English and Old French words are from the Late Latin clericus, which is derived from the Greek klerikos, which is in turn a derivative of kleros, which means "inheritance", "legacy".[2]

An early instances of the surname in English records is "le Clerkissone", in 1308; "Clerksone", in 1332; and "Clarkson", in 1491".

In Chapter VII, Danish Comparisons of his book Yorkshire folk-talk written in 1892 by the Rev. M.C.F. Morris BCL, MA, the learned author observed:

“To anyone who is acquainted with the folk-speech of East Yorkshire a visit to Denmark cannot but be deeply interesting. Everyone knows that the languages of the two peoples have much in common; nay, it is not too much to say that the backbone of the Yorkshire dialect is Danish pure and simple. This has been from time to time brought out and exemplified by others who have written upon the subject. When one hears Danish spoken in some of the country districts, the likeness is in some respects still more striking than it appears when written, …”

The Viking incursions began with the raid of Lindisfarne monastery in the year 793. In 866 Danish Vikings established The Norse Kingdom of York and made the city flourish to become the most important town outside of London. The Danes conquered the rest of England in 1013: King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark establishing the Danish dynasty in England. In 1028 King Knut (Canute), King of England and Denmark, conquered Norway. Battle of Hastings was in 1066 resulting in William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, conquering England and beginning a three century Norman occupation of England, Wales, Scotland, and later Ireland.

Some research suggests that the name Clarkson [of which Clarkeson, Clarkson, Clarksen, Clarckson, Clackson, Clakson, Claksen, Clarkstone, Clarkston, Claxton, Claxson and Clarson are but derivatives] comes from attempts to record an old Norn or Norse word for Stone Mason's Son = a "Clach" being a stone or hearth and "Clachair" (sometimes written as "Clacher" or "Clache", but all pronounced "Clacker") being a Stone Mason. The Clachair's son (pronounced "Clacker's son") becoming Clachairsson, Clachairson, Clarkstone, Clarkston, Clarkeson, Clarckson, Clarkson, Clackson, Clakson, Claxton and Claxson.

After the Norman conquest in 1066, the Doomsday Book was compiled, essentially to enable the collection in England of a poll tax. However, the peoples of Yorkshire had to await the compilation of the Doomsday Book II before they and their holdings were first recorded.

The compilation of the Doomsday Books required the population to be categorized by surname and first name. Formerly people, particularly those of Viking or Celtic origin, were known simply by their first name with perhaps a trade description or geographic location added to distinguish them from others with similar names.

Those speaking and compiling records in Norman French, asking one Allan, the Clachair’s son, for his name and occupation are likely to have recorded, from his answer in the Yorkshire dialect, “Alan le Clerkissone” as was the first recorded spelling of the family name which was dated 1306, in the "Feet of Fines of Suffolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272-1307.

As the English language developed as a concatenation of the languages and dialects of the Angles, Saxons, Celts and Vikings, later attempts to anglicize earlier assignments of the surname gave rise to the names Clach, Clacher, Clarck, Clarke, Clark, Clack, Clak and their 'sons' names Clarkstone, Clarkston, Clarkeson, Clarckson, Clarkson, Clarksen, Clackson, Clakson, Claksen, Claxton and Claxson.

The name Clarkson appears to have originated in Yorkshire and from there spread to Scotland and in time throughout the United Kingdom and the World. Clan Cameron claims Clark, Clarke and Clarkson as numbering amongst its Septs.

However, http://www.surname.sofeminine.co.uk/w/surnames/surname-clarkson.html shows that the surname Clarkson is today still predominately clustered in England in West Yorkshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Merseyside, Hampshire and Kent.

In Preston in England where Cromwell routed the army of the Scots and many of Scottish extraction remain the name Clarkson is pronounced "Clackson" with a distinctive "ack" tongue click like in "ack-ack". This appears to result from the traditional pronunciation of "Clach" as "Clack", just as "Loch" is pronounced "Lock".

Incidentally, the base word Clach is found as a "loan word" from the old Norn or Norse in the Scots Gaelic, but not in the Irish, Cornish or Briton Celtic languages wherein persist the old Celtic base words for Stone, Stonemason, hearth and the like.

There are early instances in Canada of a Scots immigrant family named Macillwraith described by occupation as "Clachairs" and one instance of the progeny described as "the Clachair's son".

No coincidence that the New York barge canal [like a lot of other stone-works, World wide] was constructed by the Clachairs and their sons, the Clachairssons who populated the areas around where they worked.

Those who continue to assert that the name "Clarkson" comes from the base "Clerk" as being the Cleric's son mistake the pronunciation in England of the word "Clerk", which although in the South-West is pronounced "Clark", it is in the North-east still pronounced "Clerk" [or "Clurk"] as in the US and Canada. In the North East of England there are many Clarksons, a few Clerks, but no Clerksons and Clarkson is never pronounced Clerkson, but often as Clackson or Claxson.

Apart from those in London (to where they may have moved rather than originated) the distribution of the surnames Clerk, Clarke, Clark, Clarkson (in their various forms and spelling) appears clustered in the North East of England and (apart from York) far from the established Royal Courts, Crown Law Courts, Cathedral or University towns and other places of learning. Flattered as the inhabitants may be by the thought, it can not be that the learned men of England and their offspring only lived in the North East of England.

The surname "Clerk" may well have derived from the Old English clerc or clerec, which means priest; the Old English words were later reinforced by the Old French form of the word clerc, but it appears from the 1891 England and Wales Census Records of the distribution and coexistence of the surnames in the same geographical regions of England, that at least those in London, Lancashire and Yorkshire, knew their 'Clerk's' from their Clarcks, Clarke's and Clark's. Moreover, whilst there are Clarcksons, Clarkesons and Clarksons, there are no Clerksons.

While Stonemasons historically belonged to a blood guild where the skills and the trade were only passed from Father to Son, the terms Clach, Clachair and Clachairsson were in time applied to what would now be described as Builder's labourers or to anyone who habitually worked in building or construction.

Yorkshire folk-talk written in 1892 by the Rev. M.C.F. Morris BCL, MA, tends to indicate that those in the North East of England were until recently [and some say - even now] speaking a language that is essentially old Norn or Norse, closer to Danish than English, perhaps betraying the origins of the inhabitants of the Norse Kingdom of York.

Mark A Clarkson LL B 116.250.14.147 (talk) 07:07, 13 June 2011 (UTC)