POLLOCK
The surname Pollock is traditionally associated with the British Isles, in particular with Scotland. Its roots are held to be Gaelic, belonging to a Celtic linguistic heritage that predominated in the northern parts of the island.
In Gaelic the word poll denotes a pool or a small body of water. The personal name Pollag is a diminutive form, and the surname is understood to have arisen as a locational designation for those who dwelt near such a water feature. Accordingly, the name conveys a sense of the surrounding landscape in which the earliest bearers lived.
A specific place called Pollock can be located in the former region of Strathclyde. The appellation of the settlement itself is likewise derived from the Gaelic root, and it is plausible that members of the family adopted the name in reference to this locale. The earliest documented use of the name appears in the form de Pollok during the reign of King William the Lion of Scotland, in a witness record dated between 1172 and 1178 at the Abbey of Kinlos in Moray.
Beyond the Scottish tradition, the surname has also been identified with an Ashkenazic and Germanic origin. In this context it has served as an ethnonym for individuals of Hebrew or other Slavonic background, notably those coming from Poland. The earliest church record in this line is that of Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Pollock, christened on 30 July 1592 at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London.
Throughout subsequent centuries, the name Pollock has continued to be recorded in various legal, ecclesiastical, and civil documents. A notable bearer in the nineteenth century was Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet, whose career as a judge, barrister at the Middle Temple, and politician, including service as Attorney General in Peel's administrations, brought the name into prominence within the British legal establishment.
The Pollock name is also documented in the context of migration. One Nancy Pollock, recorded as a famine emigrant, departed Liverpool aboard the vessel Sheridan for New York on 7 May 1846, indicating that members of the family were part of the wider Scottish diaspora in the nineteenth century.
Typical given names associated with the Pollock surname
Male
- Alan
- Andrew
- David
- Ian
- James
- John
- Robert
- Stephen
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Ann
- Anne
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Jean
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Pollock in...
Braille
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Morse
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There are approximately 8,988 people named Pollock in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,056th most common surname in Britain. Around 138 in a million people in Britain are named Pollock.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Scotland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Pollock
- Mark Pollock - Irish athlete
- Jackson Pollock - American artist (1912 to 1956)
- Jamie Pollock - Football player
- Griselda Pollock - Art historian
- Scott Pollock - Football player
- Hugh Alexander Pollock - Editor (1888 to 1971)
- Eileen Pollock - Northern Irish actor
- Craig Pollock - Businessman
- Ida Pollock - Writer, referred to as the "world's oldest novelist" who was still active at 105. (1908 to 2013)
- Michael Pollock - Admiral (1916 to 2006)
- Ernest Pollock, 1st Viscount Hanworth - Politician (1861 to 1936)
- Ed Pollock - Cricketer
- Mattie Pollock - Football player
- Ben Pollock - Football player
- Alasdair Pollock - Cricketer
- George Pollock - Film director (1907 to 1979)
- James Dalgleish Pollock - Recipient of the Victoria Cross (1890 to 1958)
- Andrew Maclean Pollock - South African cricketer (1914 to 1969)
- Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet - Lawyer and Tory politician (1783 to 1870)
- Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet - Indian Army officer (1786 to 1872)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.