This interesting surname may be of Scottish locational origin from a place called Pollock in Strathclyde, apparently so called from a diminutive of a British (the extinct Celtic language of the ancient Britons) cognitive of the Gaelic "poll" meaning "pool or pit". It may also be of Ashkenazic and German origin, being an ethnic name for someone from Poland. In the case of the Ashkenazic name, the reference is to a person of Hebrew origin from Poland or from some other Slavonic speaking region. The surname dates back to the late 12th Century (see below). Church Recordings include on Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Pollock, who was christened on July 30th 1592, at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London. Sir Jonathan Frederick Pollock (1783 - 1870), first baronet, was a judge; he was barrister, Middle Temple (1809), K.C. (1827), Tory M.P. for Huntingdonshire from 1831, knighted (1834), attorney general in Peel's first administration (1834 - 1835), and in his second administration (1841 - 1844), chief baron of the exchequer (1844 - 1866), created baronet (1866). One Nancy Pollock, a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Sheridan" bound for New York on May 7th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter de Pollok, which was dated circa 1172 - 1178, Charter witness for the King, at the Abbey of Kinlos, Moray, during the reign of King William "The Lion" of Scotland, 1165 - 1214. 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.

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