English
The surname Polk first appeared in Germany. It a shortened form of a Slavonic personal name, and its ethnic form is Pole. There are several variants of this surname : Polke, Polka and Pulke. The ravages of time are the worst enemies of written documents; while the stone that was used to construct castles, towers and other structures often assured that these precious monuments were to survive to the present day, old scrolls were more often than not lost or even destroyed without leaving a trace. Nonetheless, careful research has revealed the following: A thorough search for the first person to bear this surname revealed one Patrick Pole in Rerwick, whose name appears in a document dated 1624.The coat of arms displayed on this page was that of one branch of the Pole family; it was used by Michael de la Pole. Centuries ago, many families displayed mottoes - concise phrases which might express anything from a pun on the name to a religious or philosophical guiding principle - on scrolls, or below their coat of arms. The motto used by one branch of the Pole family was "Pollet Virtus": "Virtue Excels" and another motto of a different line of the Pole family was "Prudent Sicut Serpens": "Wise as the serpent". Probably one of the first individuals bearing the surname Polk to emigrate to America was a certain Robert Bruce Polk, who sailed from Ireland to Maryland in the 17th Century. No doubt the most illustrious personage named Polk in America was James K. Polk (1795-1849), President of the United States from ????????. He was of Scottish descent. There are approximately 23,000 people living in the United States today who have this surname.