First name origins & meanings:
- Scottish: From the pool or pit; eleventh president of the United States
- Slavic: People
Last name origins & meanings:
- Scottish: reduced form of Pollock.
- German (of Slavic
origin): from an altered pet form of the Slavic personal name
Boleslav, composed of the elements bole ‘great’, ‘large’
+ slav ‘glory’. This name was a favorite during the Middle Ages
among the gentry class in Silesia.
- German: ethnic name for a Pole
(see Polak).
- The American president James Polk (1795–1849) was of Scots-Irish
descent. His family reached America from Ireland, where their name had
been contracted from Pollok to Polk. The first American bearer, Robert
Bruce Polk, emigrated from Ireland to MD in the late 17th century.
This name appears in the following lists:
First Ladies,
Presidents' Kids,
U.S. Presidents
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