[ 10/2/2008 BenzSoapbox:  Many links may no longer work and are eliminated as they are discovered - a lengthy process that may involve decades.  I'd rather search for the new location but don't have the time given the number of web pages and links involved.  It'd be nice if someone like Google or Wikipedia would dedicate a server to allowing us webmasters to publish our old dead links to have them point to the new locations - something that will keep the internet a resource rather than a drudge for sites becoming decades old like almost all of mine. ]

Larger type is used at this web site in order to help those who, like this webmaster have become senior citizens with eyesight not as effective as when we were in our prime.  Unlike commercial cites where most of the small type goes unread, the pages at this site are meant to be read in their entirety - especially by those unfamiliar with our family history.

So far as of February 2007, from what we've found at various searching resource sites, the most common forms of the spelling of our surname, in order of their 'estimated' popularity, are:

KYRIAKOU   KYRIACOU   CIRIACO   CYRIAC   CYRIAKUS   CYRIACUS   KYRIACO   CYRIACKS   CIRIACKS   CYRIAX   CYRIAQUE   CYRIAKS   CYRIAK   ZIRIACKS   ZIRJACKS   SIRIACKS   CIRIACK

This MAIN secular home page opens the general discussion regarding our family name.  Another Christian home page covers information exclusive to the Christian history associated with our family name.  Many spellings of our surname can be verified by going to the spellings pages.  Some names may appear only there or in the bibliography.  Many others can be found throughout this web site.  [ First name references are included in order to minimize repeated visits to the sites where they appear in an attempt to find last name references.  Most can be presumed to be unrelated to our family history but do prove the popularity of the name throughout the world.  It has recently been discovered that there are more than 400 churches dedicated to St. Cyriakus/Cyriacus in Germany, alone.]

More than a twelve hundred (1,200) "possible" variations of the spelling of our family name are detailed at the spellings pages.  Go there to see where a branch may be concentrated or where various references have been found.  It appears that each spelling may spawn at least one alternative every century.  Assuming our surname began 20 centuries ago, that would mean 2 in the 1st century, 4 in the second, 8 in the 3rd until we reach 1,048,576 in the 20th and most recent century.  Of course, not all those surnames resulted in continuous male lines carrying the surname forward.  On the other hand, some centuries VERY LIKELY DID spawn many more than just two alternative spellings.  Suffice it to say, that when it comes to surname research, no stone should be left unturned - almost anything is possible.  (See one example of 'known' spelling translations at Genesis.

An index of Roman names and naming conventions indicates that Cyriacus was one used in commemoration of famous battles or war campaigns?!  It also reflects Cyricus, without the 'a', as a ?nickname? used in ancient times.

The name's earliest form is Greek.  The Greek language was to the ancient Roman Empire what English is to our modern world.  It was, after all, a Greek world before the Romans came upon the scene to begin conquering it.  Up until the 2nd century or so, Roman citizens didn't even get involved in the mechanics of business operations.  The Greeks continued running the 'business world' for several centuries.  So quite naturally, Greek was the common language used in everyday commerce and Greek businesses were predominant.

One online site has

... Greek kyriake, meaning "belonging to the Lord (kyrios)," from which the English word "church" is derived.

We've yet to find anything referring to the name before around 64 A.D.  (There has been little, if any, research done on the name in ancient Greece, in Greek or otherwise, so the lack of any discovery earlier than 64 A.D. is not significant.)  The earliest written (inscribed in stone) reference to the name found, so far, is represented in the following image file:

That and similar 'Greek' inscriptions were placed next to burial sites in the underground catacombs from the late 2nd to the early 4th centuries when Christianity was illegal and forced underground both figuratively and literally.  The inscription shown above is assumed to be from the latter period of time when Christianity was 'de facto' if not 'de jure' legal in Rome - thereby motivating the pagan 'powers that be' of the time to be especially harsh against Rome and its mostly Christian citizens in the first decade of the 4th century.

Eventually, especially after the FINAL Great Persecution (303~309±) by Diocletian at the beginning of the 4th century, Latin became more 'official' than Greek.  The latinized form of Cyriaca is Domnica/Dominica.

This means that, if the name didn't appear before the first century, it may have been used to identify individuals dedicating themselves to Jesus Christ, "the Lord" and Christianity.  After the apostles but before the priests or presbyters, there may have been Christians called Cyriaca or Cyriacus who were so active in the movement that their de facto title evolved into their de jure family name.  That the Apostle Paul visited and evangelized in Corinth, Greece is a fact - whether he connected with already extant Cyriac Family members or began the process where the Cyriac or Kyriacou term began referring to his converts is another mystery in need of resolution.
[ It also appears that the pre-4th century, illegal, Rome based Church was Greek oriented - with almost all of the Rome based adherents thereto dying before 310 A.D.  The legal Rome based Church, rebuilt upon the ashes of its predecessor from 313 onward, was Latinized from inception.  As indicated previously, not much has been researched about how the Greek Orthodox Church fared before, during and after the FINAL Great Persecution of 303 ~ 310 A.D.  One thing seems obvious though:  more individuals with variations of the Cyriac surname are referenced by the Greek and other eastern rite churches than the Roman and western rite churches. ]

Or, maybe there existed, long before Christianity, families with the Greek last name of Kyriakos?!  In either case, it's highly probable that we are descended from families with the last name already extant as of the 3rd century A.D.

These and many other mysteries regarding our family name remain to be resolved.  To discover the others, some of which are even more profound, browse the rest of this web site.  If you like mysteries, you may just discover some of the most significant you've ever encountered.