This surname is of either medieval Scottish or English origin, and is a locational name from the ancient district of Carrick in Ayrshire, or from Carrock Fell in Cumberland. The latter place was recorded as "Carroc" in a Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, dated 1208, and as "Carrok" in the 1261 "Inquisitiones post mortem", and is so called from the Old Welsh "carrecc", rock, cognate with the Old Gaelic "carra, carrick", headland, cliff, crag, rock. The former place shares the same meaning, derived from the Gaelic term. Locational surnames were originally given to the lord of the manor, or as a means of identification to those who left their place of origin to settle elsewhere. Early examples of the surname include: Hector de Carric, Knight (Lancashire, 1260); Duncan de Carrike (Berwickshire, 1296); John of Carryk, who was appointed envoy by David 11 to the king of England in 1360, and Beatrix Carrik, landholder in Glasgow (1554). On March 24th 1544, Alice Carricke, an infant, was christened at St. Crux, York, and in 1653, Stephen, son of Matthew Carrack, was christened in Bilton Ainsty, Yorkshire. A Coat of Arms granted to the Carrack family is a gold shield with a fess dancettee between three black talbots passant, the Crest being a silver ostrich, beaked and legged gold, holding in the mouth a broken spear of the last, headed of the first. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Duncan Karryc, which was dated 1224, in the "Registers of Paisley Monastery", during the reign of King Alexander 11 of Scotland, 1214 - 1249. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.