Kuriacou > Kyriacou > Cyriacus > Cyriax > Cyriacks
This is the predominantly 'correct' spelling of the modern (post 15th century) spelling of the Greek name passing through Germany to the United States and elsewhere.This spelling and most of our ancestors are located in the area of Bremen with Achim and Baden being the earliest areas thereat.(It's hypothesized that the branch immigrated from the Efurt area where the more ancient and earliest spelling may have been Cyriax - pronounced originally with the X being the Greek Chi or hard K and now with the softer CKS or AX.The emmigration to Erfurt may have been from Rome and/or other parts of the Roman Empire in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries - this all conjecture, too.)
Go to http://www.Cyriac-FHP.comhttp://www.Cyriac-FHP.com to enter the Cyriac Family History Project portal - the gateway to hundreds of other web pages covering the several hundred variations of the family name appearing around the world.
The most ancient variation of the name found, so far, is:
KURIACO or KYRIACO (and KURIACOU or KYRIACOU)
The ancient Greek pronunciation for that spelling appears to have been
KU - RR - EE - AH - KOU
with the double RR being rolled as in Spanish. Our Wisconsin Ciriacks spelling is pronounced
SEER - EE - AX
The correct spelling for Ciriacks should be Cyriacks, the form being used by our 'known' cousins in Nebraska, Minnesota and New York - the pronunciation is the same although some in the Minnesota branch pronounce it
SEER - ICK or SEER - ICKS
Go to the http://Cyriac-FHP.comhttp://Cyriac-FHP.com web site to see more - you can spend a month there and still not read all there is to discover about our very large extended family.