Starkey

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English origin, borne by people across the English-speaking world
2. An English surname derived from a place or personal name, carried by many families
3. A proper noun used as a hereditary family name, especially common in England and America

Etymology: Starkey is an English family name, and its roots lie in a compound of two Old English elements. The first, "stearc," meant "stiff," "strong," or "firm," and it survives in modern "stark." The second, "ēg," meant "island," and in place names it often referred to dry ground rising out of marshland or a river meadow. A "Starkey" was therefore someone who lived by, or took his name from, a firm or strong island of land. Surnames of this kind usually began as descriptions of where a person lived, and this is typical of many English family names built from landscape terms. The spelling variants that appear in records, such as Starky and Starkie, reflect the inconsistent spelling of medieval English rather than separate origins.