An English surname, Church comes from the Old English term ‘cyrice’ which means a church, a place of worship. The spelling variations for Church include Churcher, Churchman, Churche and Churchey. In Ireland the Church name is spelled Aglish. In England the Church family name began in the southeast part of England in Somerset. Over the centuries is spread to most of England and Wales. The highest populations with the Church name are in the city of London, Essex, Kent, Northamptonshire and Berkshire. In Scotland the Church family name appears mostly in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Midlothian and Dumfries-shire. Within the United States the Church surname originated in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Famous: Ellen Church (first official flight attendant for a major airline in 1930), George W. Church (founder of Church’s Chicken restaurants), Richard Church (English poet), Robert Reed Church (first African-American millionaire in the 19th century), William Church (inventor of a 1822 typesetting machine), Richard Church (17th century settler in Plymouth in North America), Benjamin F. Church (19th century pioneer of Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Ryan Church (professional baseball player) and Frederic Edwin Church (artist).