Certainly not family tradition, in the case of “Clerk”. The family name “Clerk” is pronounced clark because the common noun “clerk”, one employed to do clerical work (from which the family presumably derives) is pronounced that way.
“Cleric”, on the other hand, is pronounced clerrick.
Rather than keep his original surname (which I don’t even remember) he changed it to Kerr so as not to be referred to as Mr. Anita Kerr. Or at least that was the rumor which I have been unable to find an online version to refute.
I remember reading once that the two names Berkeley and Barclay are really the same name spelled differently. In some places their pronunciations have drifted apart.
It’s universally pronounced that way in the UK and, indeed, everywhere outside North America, SFAIK. George Berkeley, after who the Californian educational institution and associated town are named, was Irish; he would have pronounced it that way.
Her husband’s name was Alex Grob. I’ll admit I also don’t understand why he would change his last name to Kerr if he was trying to maintain an identity outside of his marriage.
Missed the edit window. In my Hiberno-English, error has the same vowel-sound as berry, perilous, dress, whereas err has a sound that comes somwhere between the sound in burn and the sound in air.