port and island in Michigan in the straits connecting lakes Michigan and Huron, from Mackinac, from Ojibway (Algonquian) mitchimakinak "many turtles," from mishiin- "be many" + mikinaak "snapping turtle."

As a type of flat-bottomed, flat-sided boat with a sharp prow and a square stern, 1812, so called because used on the Great Lakes. As a type of heavy blanket given to the Indians by the U.S. government, it is attested from 1822, so called because the fort there was for many years the most remote U.S. spot in the Northwest and many Native Americans received their supplies there..

also Clarke, surname, from common Middle English alternative spelling of clerk (n.). In many early cases it is used of men who had taken minor orders.

Native American tribe of southeast Maine, from Micmac (Algonquian), literally "place where pollack are plentiful," or else, if it originally is a tribal name and not a place-name, "those of the place of many pollack."

name of a Cyclops ("Odyssey," IX), also used as the name for a one-eyed animal; the name is Greek, literally "many-voiced" or else "much-spoken-of" (see poly- + fame (n.)). Nativized as Polypheme.