This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Merick.' Probably a variant of Almerick; v. Amery. Miss Yonge connects Meyrick, Merrik, and Merich with Almeric (History Christian Names, ii. 959, and v. Glossary). This name has English and Welsh origins.

Henry Meriche, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Johannes Miricheson, 1370: ibid.

1350. Baptised — William Mericke: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1563. Buried — Anthonye Meryck: St. Michael, Cornhill.

1582. Maurice Merricke, or Mayrick, or Maericke, New Coll.: Register of the University of Oxford.

1610. Richard Merrick and Martha Tither, alias Walker: Marriage Lic (Westminster).

The statement that Merrick in Connacht is a Welsh name is undoubtedly correct so far as the Merricks of Co. Mayo are concerned: the Four Masters, using the Gaelic form Mac Mibhric, record the death of one of them there in 1237and another reference to that family was cited in dealing with Hosty (q.v.

supra). Merrick is also an English name, probably derived from the christian name Almeric. Some of our Merricks or Meyricks may be of this origin; several soldiers of the name served in the Royalist army in Ireland between 1641 and 1681, but in the army lists preserved in the Ormond Manuscripts many of the regiments consisted of a mixture of Irish and English personnel. It does not appear to have been considered hitherto that the Merricks of the south of Ireland are of a different origin — Gaelic not Welsh or English: they are probably of the sept Ó Mearadhaigh, now generally anglicized as Merry, (see More Irish Families p. 178), one of the older forms of which is Mariga. The name is associated with the country comprised of west Waterford, east Cork and south Tipperary: we find it as O'Merrick in a Co. Waterford Fiant of 1600, as Merricke and Myricke in the South Tipperary hearth money rolls of 1666, in the Cloyne marriage licence bonds from 1684, in the business life of Youghal in the 1790's and again in south Tipperary in Griffith's Valuation of 1850.

Two Merricks were transplanted as papists under the Cromwellian regime, one from Co. Limerick and the other from one part of Connacht to another.

The Mac prefix also appears in the Patent and Chancery Rolls in 1356: that was in Co. Kerry, and in 1406 the same record has Patrick Meryk, also of Kerry.

An aphæresized form of Almeric, q.v.

Of triple origin: a Welsh name in Connacht from the thirteenth century and gaelicized Mac Mibhric; in west Waterford and adjoining areas probably Ó Mearadhaigh (alias Merry); or occasionally an English name. SIF 112

“Home near a Lake” (Mere-Wick). See Wykes.

(English, Scottish) Descendant of Merick or Almeric (work, rule); one who came from Merik (pronged or branching place), in Kirkcudbright.

William de Meric or Meri, Normandy 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); John de Merc, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

From Marrick; a location name in Yorkshire.

The Merricks or Meyricks have long been established in this county as well as in the adjacent county of Shropshire. Charles Merrick of Weston (Heref.) contributed £25 toward the fund raised in 1588 to resist the invasion of the Spanish Armada. Richard Meyrick was bailiff or mayor of Leominster in 1558 (T.). In 1742, Thomas Meyrick was buried in Hope Mansell church (D.).