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Origins Available: |
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The ancestors of the Blaikcleck family lived among the Strathclyde-Briton people in the Scottish/English Borderlands. It is a name for a person with dark hair. As such, the Blaikcleck surname most likely evolved from a nickname from the Middle English "blakelok," in turn from the Old English blec, meaning "black," or "dark," and locc, meaning a "lock of hair." 1
Alternatively, the name could have been derived from Black Loch, location names in Lanark, Renfrew and Stirling. 2
The surname Blaikcleck was first found in Wiltshire where Peter Blacloke was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273. 3
Dusting off more old references, we found Adam Blakelok in the Subsidy Rolls for Cumberland in 1332 and Robert Blaykelok in Yorkshire in 1431. 4
About fifty years later in Scotland, "William Blakloche, chaplain in the monastery of Dunfermlyne, appears as charter witness in 1483. " 5 The same source notes two of the same name but with very different stories: "Adam Blaiklok of the West Port of Edinburgh was hanged for perjury in 1615, and another Adam Blaiklok was constable of the parish of Kirkpatrick-Tuxta, 1617." 5
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Blaikcleck research. Another 176 words (13 lines of text) covering the years 1275, 1332, 1400, 1597, 1598, 1637, 1638, 1684, 1721, 1791 and 1801 are included under the topic Early Blaikcleck History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Prior to the first dictionaries, scribes spelled words according to sound. This, and the fact that Scottish names were repeatedly translated from Gaelic to English and back, contributed to the enormous number of spelling variations in Scottish names. Blaikcleck has been spelled Blacklock, Blakelock, Blacklocke, Blakelocke, Blaikelock, Blaiklock and many more.
Another 27 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Blaikcleck Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In such difficult times, the difficulties of raising the money to cross the Atlantic to North America did not seem so large compared to the problems of keeping a family together in Scotland. It was a journey well worth the cost, since it was rewarded with land and freedom the Scots could not find at home. The American War of Independence solidified that freedom, and many of those settlers went on to play important parts in the forging of a great nation. Among them: Thomas Blacklocke, who settled in Virginia in 1623; George Blacklock, who settled in Barbados in 1635; as well as Martha Blacklock, who settled in Maryland in 1722..