Tucker (surname)
| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Word/name | Old English, Old Saxon, Gaelige |
| Meaning | literally, a woolworker; derived from various Germanic verbs meaning "to torment" |
| Region of origin | England, Germany, Ireland |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Walker, Fuller, Tukker, Toher |
| Frequency & comparison:[1] | |
Tucker is a surname of disputed origin.
Possible derivation of the name
The origin of the name is not entirely certain, but since it has a long history as a surname on the continent, as in England and from thereon, also in the United States, it presumably has the same Saxon roots. The Saxons were a North Germanic people living in the northwestern part of the current Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the Netherlands. The Romans never ruled them and after they left, the power of the Saxons in the region grew. In the 5th Century AD, their expansion policy took them across the North Sea to Britain. There they established power in most parts of the island.
In England
Recorded as both Tucker and Tooker, the derivation of the English occupational surname comes from the Old English, pre-7th Century verb tucian, meaning "to torment." It would have been for a fuller, also known as a "walker," one who softened freshly woven cloth by beating and tramping on it in water. "Tucker" was the usual term in the southwest of England (and South Wales as well), "walker" in the west and north, and "fuller" in the southeast and East Anglia.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of one Baldwin Tuckere in the 1236 Records of Battle Abbey in Sussex.[2] Nevertheless, one should not be too hasty to assign English origin to bearers of the surname.
German and Dutch origins
Linguistically, the word tucker is assumed to be related to the German tucher, which means "towel-maker." In the 15th Century, the bulk of the German cotton trade was in the hands of the Tucher family in Nürnberg, where Tucher Castle still stands.
In Old Dutch, which is closely related to Old German, the word tuch was often used as a verb to mean "to tug sharply" (see above). The similar linguistic origin of these words is also recognizable in the English etymology.[3]
In the Netherlands the earliest known Tucker was Jan Tucker, who in 1368 sold a house on the Hagedijk Road to Antwerp in the city of Breda.[4] Breda held a local monopoly on the wool trade in those days.[5] Over the centuries the Dutch form of the surname has been spelled both Tucker as well as Tukker.
Possible Irish origin
Tucker can also be an Anglicized form of the Irish surname O'Tuachair,[6] which first appeared in the Annals of Ulster in 1126 AD as Uá Tuathchair[7] It is not uncommon to see Anglicized representations of Irish surnames, and myriad examples may be cited. According to Patrick Woulfe, in his book Irish Names and Surnames[8] it is the name of two distinct septs; one from the Irish Midlands region known as Ely-O'Carroll (which includes parts of County Tipperary and County Offaly), and another from County Mayo. These findings were confirmed by the first Chief Herald of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, and published in his book More Irish Families.[9]
Variants of the Irish surname include Toher, Togher, and Tougher.
People
- Abi Tucker (born 1973), Australian singer-songwriter and actress
- Abraham Tucker (1705–1774), English philosopher
- Alando Tucker (born 1984), University of Wisconsin basketball player
- Albert Tucker (artist) (1914–1999), Australian artist
- Albert W. Tucker (1905–1995), Canadian-American mathematician
- Alfred Robert Tucker (1849–1914), Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa from 1897 to 1911
- Anand Tucker (born 1963), Thai-British filmmaker
- Anne Wilkes Tucker, American museum curator
- Annette Tucker, American songwriter and producer
- Art Tucker (born 1959), American boxer
- B. J. Tucker (born 1980), American football player
- Barbara Tucker, African-American singer-songwriter
- Benjamin Tucker (1854–1939), American anarchist
- Benjamin V. Tucker, American professor of phonetics
- Bernard Tucker (1901–1950), English ornithologist
- Charles Tucker (mayor) (1857–1928), Australian politician
- Charles Tucker (British Army officer) (fl. 1855–1935), British Army General
- Charles Tucker (test pilot) (1919–2010), American test pilot
- Charlotte Maria Tucker (1821–1893) English writer
- Chris Tucker (born 1972), African-American actor
- Cliff Tucker (1912–1993), British politician, jurist and industrialist
- Corin Tucker (born 1972), American singer and guitarist
- Cynthia Tucker (born 1955), American opinion columnist
- Daniel Tucker (1740–1818), American minister and military officer
- Darcy Tucker (born 1975), Canadian hockey player
- Deborah Tucker, American actress and figure skater
- C. Delores Tucker (1927–2005), African-American politician and civil rights activist
- Donald Kofi Tucker (1938–2005), American politician
- Duncan Tucker, American filmmaker
- Earl Snakehips Tucker (1905–1937), American dancer
- Ebenezer Tucker (1758–1845), American judge and legislator
- Eddie Tucker (born 1966), American baseball player
- Fender Tucker, editor and publisher of Loadstar disk magazine
- Forrest Tucker (1919–1986), American actor
- Frank T. Tucker (1864-1910), American politician
- Gee Tucker (born 1946), African-American actor, model, and businessperson
- George Tucker (disambiguation)
- Gordon Tucker, American rabbi
- Harold Tucker, Lord Mayor of Manchester, England, from 1984–1985
- Henry Tucker (disambiguation)
- Janeiro Tucker (born 1975), Bermudian cricketer
- Jason Tucker (born 1976), American football player
- Jeffrey Tucker (born 1963), American writer and publisher
- Jeremy Tucker (born 1974), African-American pornographic actor
- Jerry Tucker (born 1925), American actor
- Jim Guy Tucker (born 1943), American politician
- John Tucker (disambiguation)
- John Bartholomew Tucker (born 1930), American radio and television host
- Josiah Tucker (1713–1799), Welsh churchman, economist, and political writer
- James Neil Tucker (1957–2004), American convicted of murderer and executed
- Jonathan Tucker (born 1982), American actor
- Josiah Tucker (1713–1799), economist and political writer
- Karla Faye Tucker (1959–1998), American convicted of murder and executed
- Keith Tucker, American electronic musician and disc jockey
- Keith Tucker (footballer) (born 1936), English footballer
- Kerrie Tucker (born 1948), Australian politician and activist
- Kevin Tucker (disambiguation)
- Lamin Tucker (born 1982), Sierra Leonean Olympic sprinter
- Lisa Tucker (author), American author
- Lisa Tucker (singer) (born 1989), American singer and actress
- Mark Tucker (disambiguation)
- Maureen Tucker (born 1944), American musician
- Maurice Tucker (born 1946), British geologist
- Michael Tucker (disambiguation)
- Mike Tucker, Welsh special effects expert
- Nana Tucker (born 1957), American actress
- Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (1784–1851), author and law professor
- Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (journalist) (1820–1890), diplomat
- P. J. Tucker (born 1985), American basketball player
- Patricia Tucker (Kabbah), wife of Sierra Leone's President Kabbah
- Paul Tucker (disambiguation)
- Peter L. Tucker, Sierra Leonean civil servant
- Phil Tucker (1927–1985), American filmmaker
- Preston Tucker (1903–1956), American automobile designer and entrepreneur
- Rachel Tucker (born 1981), Northern Irish singer and actress
- Ralph Tucker (1906–1977), American politician
- Raymond Tucker, three-term Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri
- Reuben Henry Tucker III (1911–1970), United States Army officer
- Rex Tucker (1913–1996), British television director
- Richard Tucker (1913–1975), cantor and singer
- Richard Hawley Tucker (1859–1952), American astronomer
- Robert C. Tucker (1918–2010), American political scientist and historian
- Robert B. Tucker (born 1953), American author, consultant and professional speaker
- Robert W. Tucker, American writer and teacher
- Roberto Tucker (born 1983), Argentine footballer
- Roman Tucker, Australian musician
- Ross Tucker (born 1979), American football player
- Roy A. Tucker (born 1951), American astronomer
- Ryan Tucker (born 1975), American football player
- St. George Tucker (1752–1827), Bermudian-American judge
- Samuel Tucker (1747–1833), American naval officer
- Samuel Wilbert Tucker, American civil rights attorney
- Shankar Tucker, American clarinetist and composer
- Scott Tucker (disambiguation)
- Sophie Tucker (1884–1966), singer and comedian
- St. George Tucker (1752–1827), lawyer and law professor
- Tanya Tucker (born 1958), American country musician
- Terre Tucker (1944–1990), American model
- Thomas Tudor Tucker (1745–1829), American physician and politician
- Thomas Tudor Tucker (admiral) (1775–1852), Rear Admiral in the British Royal Navy
- Tilghman Tucker (1802–1859), American politician
- Tommy Tucker (baseball) (1863–1935), American baseball player
- Tommy Tucker (singer) (1933–1982), American singer-songwriter
- Tony Tucker (born 1958), American boxer
- Torrin Tucker (born 1979), American football player
- Trent Tucker (born 1959), American basketball player
- Tui St. George Tucker (1924–2004), American composer and musician
- Walter R. Tucker, Jr. (1924–1990), American dentist and politician
- Walter R. Tucker III (born 1957), American minister and politician
- William Tucker (disambiguation)
- William G. Tucker (born 1935), modernist British sculptor
- William H. Tucker, American psychology professor and critic of race science
- William Jewett Tucker (1839–1926), American college administrator
- Wilson Tucker (1914–2006), American theater technician and writer
See also
- Marshall Tucker Band
- "Little Tommy Tucker", nursery rhyme
- "Old Dan Tucker", American popular song
- Tuck (disambiguation)
- Tucker (disambiguation)
References
- ^ Tucker Surname at Forebears
- ^ "Last name: Tucker". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ see for example The Brewsters Dictionary
- ^ Archive Begijnhof, Breda. IAB482 Act of deliverance by Jan Tucker and Jan Gryelen to the Begijnhof by payment of thirteen-and-a-half 'greats', coming out of a house and yard at the Haagdijk, May 20th 1368. 1 charter Regest nummers: 049 Cijnsregister: BCR114
- ^ see f.e. Het boek van Breda, page 46, published by the City of Breda, ISBN 978-90-400-8483-6 NUR 693
- ^ Dictionary of American Family Names, p. 1193, Oxford University Press (2003), ISBN 0-19-508137-4
- ^ Annala Uladh, Annals Of Ulster V2, A.D. 1057-1131, A.D. 1155-1378: Otherwise, Annala Senait, Annals Of Senat; A Chronicle Of Irish Affairs From AD 431 To 1540, Cathal Mac Maghnusa Maguire, Rory O'Cassidy, William Maunsell Hennessy, Batholomew MacCarthy, p. 171, Royal Irish Academy (1893), Kessinger Publishing, LLC (July 25, 2007), ISBN 0-548-19804-7
- ^ Irish Names and Surnames by Patrick Woulfe, Dublin Press, Library of Congress catalog card number 67-27570.
- ^ Edward MacLysaght, More Irish Families, p. 204, Irish Academic Press (1982) ISBN 0-7165-2364-7
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.