Clarke is an English surname that goes back to the Old English clerc and means "clerk" or "scholar", originally a man in minor religious orders who could read and write. The e spelling is favored for girls, in the company of crisp surname names like Sloane and Blair. Clarke climbed from number 3306 in 2015 to a peak of number 1420 in 2021 and ranks number 1519 in 2025.