Clark

Clark comes from the Old English clerc, borrowed from Latin clericus, the cleric or scholar who, in medieval villages, was often the only soul who could read and write. It crossed the Atlantic as a surname and settled into first-name duty in the twentieth century, helped along by Clark Gable's eyebrow and Clark Kent's mild-mannered disguise. Currently ranked 437, it occupies that small elegant tier of one-syllable surnames, next to Beau and Cole, that feel both preppy and slightly cinematic. The hard closing consonant gives it grip. Studious, handsome, quietly confident, Clark is a bookish name with movie-star bones.