Plack Surname History

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The name Plack was brought to England by the Normans when they conquered the island in 1066. It is a name for a maker of coarse woolen cloth and blankets. Plucknett is of Norman-French origin and derives from the name Plunket. Plunket is adapted from the Anglo-Norman-French word blancquet, meaning blanket or sheet. Another explanation suggests that the name is a local reference to Plugenett, Normandy. 1 Plack is a classic example of an English polygenetic surname, which is a surname that was developed in a number of different locations and adopted by various families independently.

Early Origins of the Plack family

The surname Plack was first found in Oxfordshire where the name Plukenet is found in two versions of the Roll of Battel Abbey. One of the first records of the name was Hugh de Plugenet who was made Baron by Henry II. 2 The name was also found in Ireland as early as the 11th century. 3

One of the earliest records of the family was Alan de Plugenet (died 1299), an English Baron, son of Alan de Plugenet. His family was settled at Preston Pluchenet in Somerset. He fought on the king's side in the barons' war, and was rewarded in 1265 with the manor of Haselberg, Northamptonshire. Through his mother's side, his uncle granted him Kilpeck Castle, Hereford, with other lands in Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire, for a yearly payment of £140. and a sparrow-hawk. He also granted Plugenet his estate at Haselberg, Somerset, for the yearly rent of one rosebud. 4

Early History of the Plack family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Plack research. Another 79 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1625, 1641, 1681 and 1706 are included under the topic Early Plack History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Plack Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Plucknett, Pluckett, Plugenett and others.

Early Notables of the Plack family

More information is included under the topic Early Plack Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Plack family to Ireland

Some of the Plack family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 83 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Plack migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Plack name or one of its variants:

Plack Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Benigna Christiane Plack, aged 42, who arrived in America in 1839 5
George Plack, who landed in St Clair County, Illinois in 1857 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Plack (post 1700) +

Louis Plack Hammett (1894-1987), American physical chemist who developed the Hammett equation, awarded the Priestley Medal in 1961

Citations +

The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Burke, John Bernard, The Roll of Battle Abbey. London: Edward Churton, 26, Holles Street, 1848, Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)