/  Kyriaki=Kiriaki /           Greece            kiriaki=sunday
                / Kyriacou<   Kyriako -kou   /            Turkey
               /  Kyriakus \  Kyriaco        \            Cyprus
              /             \ Kuriacou        \           (eastern
             /               \Quryaqos         \Heryaqos    Mediterranean)
    Kyriakou<                   / Cyriac Chi-Leah                  India China
             \                 / Cyriaque                          Indonesia
              \               / Cyr                                France
               \             /Ciriaks=Ciliax=Zilges=Zullich=Zulch  Rome, Italy
                \           / Ciriaci                              Germany France Africa
                 \ Cyriacus<  Cyriaco=Ciriaco                      Spain England Philippines
                   Cyriaci  \ Cyriax                               (northern
                             \Cyriacks=Ciriacks/ckes(?Sierich?)      & western
                              \ Ziriacks=Zirjacks                    Mediterranean)
                               \Nedelea=Nedelja=Nedelya=Nedjelja---Balkans  nedelja=sunday
K Y R I A K O U   or   in the greek alphabet   may to be the most popular westernized variation of the ancient (sur)name that is Greek in origin.  An ancient Greek pronunciation is KU-RR-EE-AH-KO with a trilled 'RR' - as is done in Spanish and other languages.  It is a spelling that was inscribed in stone in the 3rd century catacombs of Rome when Greek was still a primary language of the Roman Empire.  Those inscriptions were rediscovered 100 years later around the middle of the 4th century when Latin had already begun replacing Greek as the official language of the newly Christianized Roman Empire.  The Greek spelling can be seen in the inscription image below.
The Marucchi book displays numerous other examples of the earliest 3rd century inscriptions found in the Christian catacombs of Rome.  The one on page 250 is shown in the newly created image file above.  The memorial inscription is between the Chi-Rho (Christ in ancient greek alphabet) (P over X - representing Christ) on the left and the dove (representing peace) on the right.  It might be safely assumed that the variations in the spellings found in ancient times, as well as our modern times, result from the complexity of the pronunciation of the name combined with the linquistic training and preferences of the scribe.

Greek translation and reference sites:  Alphabet • Classical • Epitaphs
P and R are sometimes interchanged when ancient Greek inscriptions are translated.
[ Click here to read about the other ancient, inscribed in stone forms of our Greek surname. ]


An example of one of the more significant and interesting spelling changes is described at the CHIRIACKA spelling entry of the Aa ~ Ch & Cj ~ Cx spellings page. These pages list all probable, referenced or possible spellings of the family surname - including those found to be unconnected to our genealogy.
  • In general, the spellings begin withCAR-, CER-, CHI-, CIL-, CIR-, CUR-, CYR-, KAR-, KER-, KIL-, KIR-, KUR-, KYR-, QUR-, SIL-, SIR-, SUR-, SYR-, TZY-, ZAR-, ZER-, ZIL-, ZIR-, ZUR- and ZYR-. 

  • The middle can be -E-, -I-, -L-, -J-, -R-, or -Y-. 

  • They end with -AC, -ACA, -ACAS, -ACE, -ACES, -ACI, -ACIS, -ACK, -ACKA, -ACKE, -ACKES, -ACKI, -ACKIS, -ACKO, -ACKOS, -ACKOU, -ACKS, -ACKU, -ACKUS, -ACO, -ACOS, -ACOU, -ACQUE, -ACS, -ACU, -ACUS, -AK, -AKS, -AQUE and -AX.  In some cases, the -A at the beginning of the ending can be replaced or preceded by an -E or an -I. 
The specific combinations of beginnings, middles and endings appear to be unique to various regions and linquistic patterns.  Some are merely misspellings that may or may not have been perpetuated.  Some spellings that deviate from this convention were referenced in books written by other researchers.  Some of the search engines have the ability to point out alternative spellings in a highly efficient manner.  In order of efficacy, they are:

(ei)Ellis Island-1892~1924 - their search process returns a list of probable spelling alternatives THAT DO EXIST in their records when the spelling entered IS NOT FOUND - just enter a known and unused mispelling to see them.

(lds)LatterDaySaints

MissingMoney.com(mm)MissingMoney.com

Multiplying the beginnings, middles and endings (24 x 6 x 30 x 2) arrives at a total of 8,640 possible combinations.  (Some spellings have yet to be found as a surname for anyone.  To date, about one-third of the 'manually generated' spellings beginning with C have been found to have ZERO references.)

Within the past century in the United States, our SEER-E-AX pronunciation produced SEER-IX and SEER-ICK offshoots - just in the state of Minnesota.  Given that the Cyriac surname dates back to at least the 3rd century and presuming similar changes for past migrations into new linquistic areas - PRODUCING MORE PRONUNCIATIONS IN EACH SUCH AREA - the spelling possibilities expands into the tens of thousands!!  It's possible that Kirk and its numerous variations is an offshoot of the CYRIAC family name.  It's also very likely that many surnames, such as Kirk, also have varying non-CYRIAC origins.

    Do not discount the validity of an alternative spelling just because it seems to have no relationship to your own or another 'seemingly' more valid spelling - over the centuries, through migrations and many linguistic idiosyncrasies inherited therefrom almost any pronunciation and spelling can become completely different given enough time.  Take, for example, the following changes initiated by this webmaster's own great-grandfather when he migrated from Germany to the USA:

          or, the 'apparently' completely arbitary change involved with 'KAYES':

All of the spellings are included within the SEARCH RESULTS pages - including those for which no valid hits were found -- many of them have hits back to this site --- those not being considered valid hits.  Use the top . 1 . 2 . 3 . middle . (... and so on) links to navigate through the various SEARCH RESULTS pages.  Under each surname within any SEARCH RESULTS page, the number of online hits returned by various search engines and reference sites are detailed.  An explanation is shown immediate below:
The following encoding menu is seen above various high profile surnames in each of the SEVEN (so far) separate surname spellings pages.   SpeakerImageCIRIACKS   CA GA MN NM NY WI 497av 388f 4fs(Arthur Gary Leroy Ward) 774g 26lds 1loc(Kenneth) 2mm(BetsyLee&Kenneth) 62rd 18ss as of 19.8.2002 (Periods indicate the international, day.month.year, dating convention.  Slashes or hyphens indicate the USA, month/day/year, method.)
[1000%/000] percent of and rank within a population sampling, representing 88,799 surnames, used to substantiate the accuracy of the 1990 USA census] (In this case,CIRIACKS didn't make the cut and nothing is shown.)
locations CA GA MN NM NY WI
(In this case, the WI is emphasized to represent the predominant branch or, as is the case with Wisconsin the location where this spelling of the name originated.

.AccessArchives 120 Alta Vista, (0 Argos=offline), 0 EllisIsland, 2 e-mail(Switchboard.com), 479 Fast (alltheweb), 0 FoundMoney, 4 FarmSubsidies, 604 Google, 25 Latter Day Saints, 1 Library of Congress, 2 Missing Money, 0 Reference Desk(WhitePages-Switchboard.com) 151 Snap(obsoleteButOldHitsLeftThere) and
(ss)18ss Social Security Deaths Index hits via the Ancestry dot com site.  The last search was done on Feb. 16th, 2002. 

[000 00000]
(no references other than at the spelling pages here)
0av 0ar 0em 0f 0g 0lds 0loc 0mm 0s
0† as of 15.1.2007

Celeax Ciracou Ciriacas Ciriacka/as/e/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Ciriacou Ciriakas/e/es/os/ou/z Cirjacs Cirklau Cirriacks Cirriaque Ciryaka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Ciryax Cyerac Cyleax Cynacque Cyraca/que/i/is/ou/que/u Cyrake Cyreacks Cyreaque Cyriacka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Cyriakis/ou Cyriaqur Cyriark Cyricou/u Cyrjackovic Cyrjacs Cyrjakovic Cyrklau Cyrriacks Cyryaka/as/e/es/i/is/o/s/ou/s/u/us

Keleax Keliax Kiliax Kiracas/is/ou/u Kiriaca/as/is/s/u Kiriackas/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/s/u Kirjackovic Kirjacs Kirriacks Kirriaque Kiryakas/e/es/s/us Kiryax Kuriaco Kyerac Kyiark Kyliax Kynacque Kynaque Kypiac Kyracaque/as/i/is/que/s/us Kyrake Kyraque Kyreacks Kyreaque Kyriace/que/s Kyriacks Kyriacque Kyriacs Kyriaque Kyriaqur Kyriark Kyrjackovic Kyrjacs Kyrjakovic Kyrklau Kyrriacks Kyrriaque Kyryak/a/as/e/es/i/is/o/s/u/us Kyryax Quiriacas/ou/s/u Qviriaca/as/i/is/o/ou/s/u/us

Seleax Silliaca/as/e/es/i/is/os/ou/s/u/us Silliack(noneFoundForAnyOf13endings) Silljax Siracis/ou Siriacka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/s/u/us Siriakas/es/os/ou/s/us Sirjackovic Sirjacs Sirjakovic Sirklau Sirriacks Sirriaque Siryakas/e/es/is/o/os/ou/s/us Siryax Syerac Synacque Synaque Syracaque Syracou Syracque Syrakanian Syrake Syreacks Syreaque Syriacou/que Syriackas/e/es/is/os/ou/us Syriacusa Syriacusano Syriakanian Syriakas/ou/u Syriaqur Syriark Syrjackovic Syrjacs Syrjakovic Syrkia Syrkkio Syrkku Syrklau SyrnicSyroker Syryaka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/s/u/us Syryax

Tzyliakes(See references) Zeleax/iax Zieriacka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Zieriak/a/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Zilgis/us Zilliks Zillkin Ziraca/as/e/es/is/os/ou/s/us Ziracka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Ziriacas/e/es/i/is/os/ou/s/u Ziriacka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u Ziriaka/as/e/es/is/ou/s/u Ziriaque Zirjackovic Zirjacs Zirjakovic Zirklau Zirriacks Zirriaque Ziryak Ziryaka[none found] Zyerac Zyiark Zynacque Zynaque Zyraca/aque/as/i/o/os/ou/que/s/u Zyrake Zyrakes Zyraque Zyreack Zyreacks Zyreaque Zyriaca/as/e/i/o/os/ou/que/s/u Zyriack/a/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/u/us Zyriaka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/s/u Zyriaque Zyriaqur Zyriark Zyrkich Zyryaka/as/e/es/i/is/o/os/ou/s/u/us Die Deutschen Familiennamen geschichtlich, geographisch, sprachlich, Heintze-Cascorbi, Prof. Dr. Paul Cascorbi, Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, G. m. b. H. 'Halle/s' Berlin, 1933, has:

    Cyriacus II.  griech. ''dem Herrn gehorig''; romischer Diakon, Martyrer, †309, einer der 14 Nothelfer. Kal. 8. August. FN. Cyriacks; cyriax, Gen. Cyriaci. Zdgz. Cirks (fries.), davon Gen. Plur. Cirksena, das einheimische Furstengeschlecht in Ostfriesland, das mit Karl Edzard 1744 ausstarb; doch dauert der N. anderweitig in Ostfr. fort, als der einzige noch lebende N. auf sena (sna) s. Ruprecht S. 14 - aber nach Stark S. 135 von Sigerik , Sirck, indem fries. fur s ein z eintritt: Zirkzena, wie Zicke = Sicke.
    Mannigfache, z. T. sehr entstellte Formeu (Vorn. in Jena 1406 - 1452 Celiax, Ciliax, Ciriax): Ciriak(z); Zieriacks; Siriax; Zurks; Zirk; Silljacks; Cilliox; Ciliax; Zilias; Zillies; Zilges; Zilges; Silges, Cilges; Ciljes; Zil(le)s; Zillius; Zilgus; Zul(li)ch; Zei(h)er (schwab, Wb. Zeyr 1533); Zey(h)er u. a.; Gen. Zillken; Zilligen; Zillekens (niederrhein.). Vklf. Zilske (Kiel). Patr. Zss. O. Gen. Zillessen.
    Zirkel III.  nicht zu Cyriacus, sondern = Zirker, mhd. zirkaere ''der die Runde macht, Patrouille'', wenn nicht = Zirckenmacher (Quedlinburg 1608, mhd. zirke, zirkel ''Zirkell'').  Auch Zirkler (um 1500 hießen die Nachtwachter in Chemnitz Zcircklerer), Zurchlert.
    Ciliax, Ciljex, Ciriaks, Cirks; Zieriacks; Siriax; Zurks; Zirk; Silljax; Zil- s. a) I. Tilaz, b) II. Cyriacus; Zul(li)ch; Zei(h)er; Zey(h)er s. Cyriacus

The Deutsches Namenlexikon, Hans Bahlow, Keysersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munchen, 1967, has:

Helmut Cyriacks and his daughter, Friederike, found some valuable information about the origin of the name.  Their findings were summarized in Chapter 1D of the written family history of 1985 - all of which is now included in the Erfurt page of the genealogy section of this web site.


The number of hits returned by each search engine may contain many duplicates.  Use the numbers to estimate the popularity of a given spelling.  Establishing the validity of a given spelling can be best confirmed at the Library of Congress, Social Security Deaths Index, Switchboard.com, MissingMoney.COM, and Latter Day Saints' sites.  Some hits could be misspellings, typographical errors or variations no longer in use.  [ Neither the Ellis Island (ei) nor the MissisingMoney.COM (mm) tallies should be considered complete and comprehensive.  As stated at their web sites, they are always adding more information.  A significant expansion at the MissingMoney.com site occurred around the August 21, 2000 - just after most of the searches for this site's Tally Sheets were completed.  Go there with your own surnames AND search your own state's database, too. ] Some surnames have the following images, icons or tokens associated with them:

Surname Forum Click a "People" image to go to an online forum or message board associated with that spelling of the name.  Those forums may handle many variations of the spelling. Surname Forum

Most URL/LINKs or non-electronic references are chosen based upon their uniqueness.  Some surnames have so many that they are listed in pop-up selection box format at the page.  Click that image when seen to go there.  When found, at least one personal web site is included among the selected references. SpeakerImage Hover here to get the sound pop-up window (if it's not already there.)  Click an item or the speaker image when it appears to hear the associated surname pronounced.  SpeakerImage  [ Anyone desiring to include a sound file with their surname pronunciation, even those spelled the same but pronounced differently, can this Webmaster with a .WAV file attachment.  The wi-ciriacks.wav file was created with the Windows Sound Recorder and an old 1970s tape recorder plug-in microphone. ]

 

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Website link/location/URL: http://www.Cyriac-FHP.com/legend.htm or http://www.jamrent.com/c/legend.htm