Polk
Usually a shortened form of Pollock, though it can also be a contraction of the Cornish place-name Polkinghorne.
The #1,296 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,395 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Polk is generally treated as a shortened form of Pollock, a Scottish surname ultimately linked to Gaelic elements referring to a pool or pit. Some older surname writers also connect Polk with Pollock through English spelling reduction, and one source notes it as a possible contraction of Pocock as well. In Cornwall, Polk can also point to Polkinghorne, a place-name surname from an estate in Gwinear.
History
The name became established in Britain and then spread to North America. In the United States, the most famous bearer was James K. Polk, the 11th president, whose family was recorded as descending from a Pollock line. Because of that association, Polk is often recognized as an American surname even though its roots are older and British.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname dictionary explicitly says Polk is an abbreviation of Pollock, and another notes the U.S. president James K. Polk descended from a Pollock family line.
From the historical record
“was Policy. POLK. 1. A contraction of Pollock, and sometimes of Pocock. 2. A i^ool. Halliw. POLKING HORNE. An estate In the parish of Gwinear, co. Cornwall, where the family were resident in the XIII. cent. C. S. Gilbert's Cornw. "From this jilace were denominated an old family of gentle- men surnamed Polkinhorne…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom