Sarah Herrick

Femaleabout 1699– •2C1M-Y9D

English: from the Old Norse personal name Eiríkr, Old Danish, Old Swedish Erik, itself from Proto-Scandinavian ain- ‘one, select’ + rík- ‘rule(r)’ + prosthetic H-.

Irish (Cork): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hEirc ‘descendant of Erc’, a personal name meaning ‘speckled, dark red’ or ‘salmon’, and borne by a Christian saint. In Munster and Ulster this name has been changed to Harkin .

History: The English poet Robert Herrick (1591–1674) was the son of a wealthy London goldsmith, whose family had a long history in the town of Leicester. DNA analysis suggests that the modern surname is monogenetic, i.e. from a single eponymous bearer. The earliest known bearer of the name in Leicester was John Eirich, recorded as a burgess there in 1211. Leicester was one of the headquarters of the Viking army that conquered and settled the eastern midlands in the late 9th century, leading to the English adoption of many Old Norse personal names, such as Eirikr, as personal names. The initial aspirate is first recorded in the name of Nicholas Heyryke, recorded as a Leicester burgess in 1524.