Cwick Surname History

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Cwick is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the county of Devon where they worked as dairy farmers. The surname is both local and occupational, since it describes where the original bearers lived and what work they did. The surname was originally derived from the Old English word cwic. Occupational names that were derived from the common trades of the medieval era transcended European cultural and linguistic boundaries. In this case the surname Cwick was originally derived from the principal object associated with the activity of the original bearer; dairy farming. These types of occupational surnames are called metonymic surnames.

Early Origins of the Cwick family

The surname Cwick was first found in Devon where this name occurred amongst the burgesses and churchwardens of Tiverton. 1 The name was also frequented in Cornwall where the name was derived from the Cornish word guîk, meaning a village. 2

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 had only one listing and was with a very early spelling: Robert Quic in Cambridgeshire. The Close Rolls listed William Quykkc, 14 Henry VI and John Quicke, Close Rolls, 3 Edward IV. 3 For these two latter entries, the reader should note that early rolls used the date of the king's reign as in 14 Henry VI, which meant during the 14th year of King Henry VI's reign.

Early History of the Cwick family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cwick research. Another 84 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1600, 1636, 1650, 1653, 1706 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Cwick History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cwick Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Cwick family name include Quick, Quicke, Quig, Quigg, Quegg and others.

Early Notables of the Cwick family

Another 36 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cwick Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cwick family to Ireland

Some of the Cwick family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 51 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cwick family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Cwick surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Quick, who arrived in Virginia in 1651; Elizabeth Quicke settled with her husband in St. Christopher in 1634; Thomas Quicke was banished to Barbados in 1685.

Citations +

Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)