This name ATTACK is of the locational group of surnames meaning 'the dweller beside the oak-trees' from residence nearby. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. The name was originally derived from the old English word AC. Early records of the name mention Geoffrey atte Ock, 1296, County Surrey. Adam At the Ock was recorded in County Salop in the year of 1300. Edward Atacke of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Atack was baptised at St. James's, Clerkenwell, London in the year 1709. Samuel Cooper and Christian Attack were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London, in 1765. Miles Atack and Elizabeth Fryer were married at the same church in 1790. The name is also spelt Atock, Atwood, Atoc, Atack and Attock At first the coat of arms was a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face, and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield and embroidered on his surcoat, the flowing and draped garment which was worn over the armour. Over the centuries, most people in Europe have accepted their surname as a fact of life, as irrevocable as an act of God, however much the individual may have liked or disliked the surname, they were stuck with it, and people rarely changed them by personal choice. A more common form of variation was in fact involuntary, when an official change was made, in other words, a clerical error. Among the humbler classes of European society, and especially among illiterate people, individuals were willing to accept the mistakes of officials, clerks and priests as officially bestowing a new version of their surname, just as they had meekly accepted the surname they had been born with. In North America, the linguistic problems confronting immigration officials at Ellis Island in the 19th century were legendary as a prolific source of Anglicization.