Charke

Recorded as Chark, Charke, Charker, this is almost certainly an English surname. Although quite well recorded in the surviving church registers of, for instance, the city of London, as shown below, none of the various dictionaries of surnames appear to record it at all. In our opinion it is probably locational from a place such as Chirk in Denbighshire, Wales, or Cherkley, a lost or diminished village in Surrey, or from some other unidentified place, or as Charker it could either be again locational, or perhaps job descriptive. If the latter we do not know of any skill from which it developed, but it could originate from the pre 7th century Olde English word 'cierr,' meaning to bend. This was usually used topographically to describe a bend of say, a river, but it could have been applied occupationally as in charwoman. 'Charka' in Hindi means to spin, although it is very unlikely that that is the source of this name. Examples of recordings include William Chark who married Margaret Dealman at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on July 5th 1592, and John Charker, the son of William Charker, who was christened at St Giles Cripplegate, on October 19th 1718.