Last name origins & meanings:
- Irish (of Anglo-Norman origin): habitational name from Burgh in
Suffolk, England. This is named with Old English burh
‘fortification’, ‘fortified manor’.
- Norwegian: Americanized form
of Børke, a habitational name from any of eight farms in
southeastern Norway, named with Old Norse birki ‘birch wood’.
- German: variant of Burk.
- Burke owes its importance as an Irish surname to William FitzAdelm
de Burgo, a Norman knight whose family held lands at Burgh in Suffolk,
from which they took their name. He took part in Henry II’s expedition
to Ireland in 1171 and received the earldom of Ulster, along with
large tracts of land in Connacht. His descendants quickly associated
themselves with the native population, Gaelicizing their name as de
Búrca.
Famous people with this last name:
Brooke Burke
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