ETYMOLOGY of the SURNAME "TUCKER"
and VARIATIONS
The surname of Tucker is from the old English word Tucker,--a trade; which word has now become, for the most part, obsolete. Fuller being more commonly used instead. Bailey[1] says it derived from the Teutonic noun tuck, signifying cloth; hence Tucker, a fuller of cloth. Mr. Lower[2] seems to take the same view of it; for, under the title of surnames derived from occupations and pursuits, he gives us, among many others, the following:--"Tucker, a fuller." Webster[3] says, "Tucker, a fuller; whence the name, (local)."
Our patronymic has had the misfortune of being spelt all manner of ways, as Tulker, Tuker, Toocker[4], Tooker, and Tucker. The former we find in very old manuscripts, and the latter is at present the most usual mode of writing it, though some families write it Tooker.
There is a name, MacTucker, which I cannot account for otherwise than by supposing that some individual or individuals bering our name, have, at some period, settled in either Ireland or Scotland, and there have acquired the prefix Mac, which is an Irish term, signifying son.
In many parts of England, Ireland, and, for aught I know, in America, we find the surnames Tuckey, Tukey, and Tookey. What may be their etymology, or whether they are the same with our cognomen, I am not prepared to say.
Tuckermann, or Tuckerman, and Tuckersham, are compound forms of the name. The latter is very probably derived from the name of some place or town; we seldom meet with it in this country.
Those families bearing the names of Tucke, Tuck, Tuk, Tuke, Touke, Towke, Tooke, &c. trace their origin from le Sire de Tuke, a celebrated knight, who came over to England with William the Conqueror, and fought at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. If such be the true derivation, then, although these names, having such a close resemblance to ours, have not, in fact, the least connexion with it.
Footnotes
[1] Bailey's Etymological English Dictionary, 2 vols., 8 vol. London: 1766.
[2] Lower's Essays on English Surnames, 2 vols., 12 mo. London: 1849.
[3] Webster's English Dictionary, 8vo. New-York: 1847.
[4] New-York City Directory for 1850-1.
The above text is from the introduction in "A Genealogical and Historical Account of the Descendants of Henry Tucker, by George H. Tucker, M.D., June, 1861
Retyped and reformatted by: Kathy Leigh, August 1, 2001
To continue with the Introduction, which lists early Tucker's to America, click here
