the Russian language.  Historically, Russia ruled over the Baltic states for a long period of their history. As a result, many of our ancestors and parents. grew up in Russia and served various Tsars.  My father was born in Saint Petersburg and grew up speaking Russian. Other ancestors were in the Russian navy. An other Keyserlingk was the ambassador of the Russian Tsar to Poland.  

The original spelling of our name was without a K at the end.  However, for those families who served the Tsar, the pronunciation of the letter G sound at the end of a word forces it to sound like a K.  A soft G at the end of a word in Russian does not exist so they added a K to conform. 

End of story.

Sander

June 21, 2021