Blake

Blake is a surname or a given name which originated from Old English. Its derivation is uncertain; it could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had dark hair or skin, or from "blaac", a nickname for someone with pale hair or skin.[1] Another theory is that it is a corruption of "Ap Lake", meaning "Son of Lake".[2]

Blake was the name of one of the 14 Tribes of Galway in Ireland. These Blakes were descendants of Richard Caddell, alias Blake, who was involved in the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. As such a long present foreign name it became known as de Bláca in Irish.[3]

The origins of the name Blake are also considered to be Old Norse, first appearing in Yorkshire, England, possibly derived from the word Blaker, referring to a village and a former municipality of Akershus county, Norway (east of Oslo).

The Blake surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 12th century, making it one of the earliest on record. Later interesting examples of the name in records taken from the Dictionary of National Biography include the famous Admiral Robert Blake, 1599–1657, who destroyed the Spanish Fleet at Santa Cruz, and died on the way home, and Francis Blake, who earlier in 1635 had embarked from London on the ship George bound for Virginia. He is believed to have been the first of the many Blakes to colonize New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Walter le Blake. This was dated 1167, in the "Pipe Rolls" of the county of Devonshire, and during the reign of King Henry II, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154–1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation, and in most cases, but not necessarily this one, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Blake often refers to the British poet, painter and printmaker William Blake (1757–1827) or to the contemporary figurative artist Blake.