This ancient surname of AFFLECK was a locational name meaning 'one who came from AUCHINLECK', borne by a family of that Ilk in Ayrshire. Sir Edmund AFFLECK was created a baronet in 1782, sixth in descent from Sir John AUCHINLECK. Surnames can be divided into four categories; place names, occupation names, nicknames and patronymics. PLACE NAMES are the largest group and covers all those names first applied to people who lived in or nearby to a particular place. For example, Grove, Wood, Field, Meadow, and Street are obvious. Occasionally names were taken from obscure villages or hamlets which no longer exist and this can make research confusing. OCCUPATION NAMES cover nearly all trades which existed in the Middle Ages. These are numerous. It does not necessarily follow that such names as King, Duke, Earl and so on mean your ancestors were of noble blood. It is much more likely that such named people worked for the person referred to. NICKNAMES. This is a smaller group but in many ways more interesting. They usually originated as a by-name for someone by describing their appearance, personal disposition or character but which became handed down through the ages and did not apply to their descendants. For instance the name Black would denote a dark man, Little, someone small (or even somewhat ambiguously) someone tall. PATRONYMICS. This group covers all names which derive immediately from the owner's father. Many christian names which are also surnames have, over the years, lost the possessive form but the origin is still the same. Examples of this could be names such as Peter,Thomas, Henry - all names which became both christian and surnames over the years. In Hotten's 'The Original Lists of Persons of Quality' which includes emigrants, religious exiles, political rebels, serving men sold for a term of years, apprentices, children stolen, maidens pressed and others, who went to America from Great Britain to the American Plantations between 1600 and 1700 is included 'Andrew, ye son of Lt. Colonel Andrew AFFLECK, who emigrated in 1679'. William Darby and Mary AFFLECK were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in the year 1748, and Thomas AFFLECK and Margaret Stuart were wed at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, London in 1749.