Trask

Trask is an English surname of locative origin, derived from the place name Yolks, a corruption of _Thirsk_, a market town in North Yorkshire, England. The place name Thirsk itself comes from the Old Norse _þresk_, meaning "fen, marsh" or "lake", reflecting the area's boggy landscape. The surname is therefore topographic, originally identifying someone who lived near or came from this marshland region. As a habitation name, Trask would have pinpointed a rural individual or family's roots at a time when surnames were becoming fixed (from the 13th century onward in England). The truncation of Thirsk to Trask exemplifies typical English regional phonetic reductions.