Recorded as Carlick, Garlick, Corlick and others, this is an English surname. It has at least two possible origins. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and an occupational name for a grower or seller of garlic, a plant which in ancient times was as popular in Britain as the continent. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th century word "garleac", a compound of "gar", meaning spear, and "leac", a leek, and so named from the shape of the leaves. Secondly the surname may have derived from the Olde English personal name "Garlac", composed of the elements "gar", and "lac", meaning sport or play. Thirdly it may be locational from the area in Greater London known as Garlickhythe. Early examples of the surname recordings include Gilbert Garleck, recorded in the county of Suffolk in 1277, and John Garlyke, in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1491. Recordings from the surving registers of the diocese of Greater London include Henry Carlick at the church of St Andrews, Enfield, Middlesex, on June 1st 1588, and John Garlic ke who married Elizabeth Becket on August 19th 1595, at St. Katherines by the Tower (of London). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Garlec, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire". Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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