749 SPARKES members around the world

SPARKES Family History

This very interesting surname with spellings which include Sparke, Sparks, Sparkes and Spark, is medieval English. However it originates from the pre 7th century Old Norse nickname "Sparkr", meaning sprightly or vivacious through the later Norman French invaders after the Conquest of England in 1066. It was given either to a particularly bright or lively person, or possibly given the Chaucerian humour of those ancient times, the complete reverse! The surname first appears in written records in the early 13th Century, (see below), and the early surname development includes such recordings as those of Ralph Sparke, in the register of the Abbey of Ely in Cambridge, in the year 1221, whilst a John Sparkes was listed in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Yorkshire in 1301.