Does anybody know about the name Herrick?

My father tells me that he’s German/Irish. ‘Herrick’ is from his German father’s side. Every time I Google ‘Herrick’ it pulls up a British name origin. If I Google ‘German Herrick’, genealogy sites refer me to Herrmann, Erick, or Heinrich. One of those may well be our real name, because Dad told me our family quit speaking German entirely to avoid problems during WWII. Our name could have been changed. Anything…?

It may seem the same.. but genealogy (your ancestry) and a surname, are SO not the same things. For beginning.. any name CAN come from more than one “origin” (for lack of better word), and often cannot be proved to be a certain “nationality” (again.. not even the right term.)
Having an “Irish” (German, Russian) name..does not make the person of that ancestry. What makes a person of such and such heritage, is actually finding the ANCESTOR and his/her place of origin. Sometimes.. such as Poland.. if a country is under another political rule..then it has to come down to the time frame, and town. What is in Poland today, was part of a number of different countries at different times, and even did not exist for a time.
I have seen sites that claim such and such is a variation of this/that.. with no proof to even back it up.
So, here is the thing.. stop looking for where the name is thought to come from.
Look for where his gr grandfather, or gr gr grandmother, actually was born. Just to illustrate.. of 8 gr grandparents..FIND THE DOCUMENTS about that exact person. Each of those 8 will have different names, anyway.. only one will be Herrick. But dad is part of all his ancestors.
The surname “origin” always will be debatable. The person and facts about him/her.. will not be debatable.

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