When I was growing up in England, I knew of no other families with the same name as ours. Even our relatives had different versions of the name as the various branches of the family had each chosen their own Anglicization. Through the wonders of the Internet I have found that it is by no means as rare as I had imagined. I was first alerted to this when I came across discussions where contributors to misc.kids kept saying they would not be without their Birks. Word searches also threw up various unexpected results. This is what I found:
Birks immortalized by Burns in a poem - THE BIRKS OF ABERFELDIE. This is a real place, as described at the Virtual Birks.
An alarming announcement -
REPAIR . You may think it is time to put your old Birks out to pasture, but before you trash those beloved old slides take a look at our repair list below. We think you will be pleasantly surprised at how we can revive those old Birks.
... to find out more, go to: Air Capital Birkenstock Repair Information
There is also a Canadian connection, with jewelry stores described on a web page at: Birks - Birks Story.
And did you know that "the Beverley Birks Couture Collection is one of the world's largest collections of haute couture?" see here.
There is a Birks Lecture Series at McGill University, described here, and a Birks Reading Room.
Meanwhile, the University of Exeter has the Birks Halls, described as the best hall on campus.
In addition to these, there seem to be many people around the world with the same name -
One is an expert in Changing Neolithic Landscapes at Brzesc Kujawski, Poland
Not to be outdone, another is joint author of: An Atlas of Past and Present Pollen Maps for Europe, 0-13,000 Years Ago.
And in Toronto, At the Red Head Gallery, Carolyn Birks is showing Exogyny, a show of "women's accoutrements." They're made out of all manner of wild and funky sculptural material: wire, wax, steel, fur and more.
Which may have no connection to someone else's dissertation on the effectiveness of a diagnostic teaching as applied to the pupils' understanding of reflection.
Close to one of my own interests, there is a book on making pottery by Tony Birks, described here.
There is someone who knows about Chemiluminescence and photochemical reaction detection in chromatography, a Birks Family Foundation, a law professor, and many, many more.
I doubt that any of these are related, but it's amazing what you can come up with in just a short search!
Stuart Birks
Originally 3 December, 1995, updated 1 December 1999