This unusual and interesting name is English in origin and is a nickname surname for someone with a fancied resemblance to the bird. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "storc". There is also a possibility that the nickname comes from a house distinguished by the sign of a stork, which may have been a symbol of good luck. In St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London on 20th May 1618, Barsaba Stork married William Chribe, and on 4th September in 1681, Martha Stork the infant daughter of John and Alice Stork was christened at St. Bololph, Bishopsgate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Osbert Storc, which was dated 1198, in the Pipe Rolls of Kent, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as the Lionheart 1189 - 1199. 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.