Clarges Family History

Perhaps from Middle English clergi + the possessive suffix -s ‘servant of a clergyman or clergymen’. In Middle English clergi was used as a singular occupational term (plural clergis) so perhaps the name is to be understood like Parsons and Vicars.

However, these names in early records are often prefaced by atte or del which are completely absent in the record of this name; perhaps therefore it can be from the Norman French abstract noun clergise ‘knowledge learning’ or less likely clergesse ‘learned woman’.