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Hooke History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Hooke History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

The present generation of the Hooke family is only the most recent to bear a name that dates back to the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. Their name comes from having lived in Dorset at Hooke, a parish, in the union of Beaminster, hundred of Eggerton, Bridport division. Hooke is also a chapelry, in the parish of Snaith, union of Goole, Lower division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross in the West Ridig of Yorkshire and Hook is a hamlet, in the parish and union of Kingston-Upon-Thames, First division of the hundred of Kingston in Surrey. 1

"Many localities in England bear the name of "the Hook," an expression which is doubtless topographical, though its precise derivation is not known. It is probably allied to the Teutonic hoe, hoh, hoch, Sec., all meaning a hill or elevated place. The surname was written in the XIV. cent. atte Hooke, and this by crasis sometimes became Tooke. It may be mentioned that Hoke, as a personal name, occurs in Saxon times. " 2

The name typically means "place at the hook of land, or bend in a river or hill." 3

Early Origins of the Hooke family

The surname Hooke was first found in Devon where one of the first records of the name was found in 1050-71 in a reference of Old English Bynames of Devon. Later in the Assize Rolls of Lincolnshire, the Latin form of the name, Hervicus and Richard Hoc were listed in 1218. By 1230, the Pipe Rolls of Berkshire had listed John Hook, the first listing of the name as it is more commonly spelt today. 4

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: Reginald de le Hoke, Wiltshire, Walter del Hoke, Gloucestershire, and Love del Hok, Oxfordshire. 5

In Somerset, Robert de Hok, Richard atte Hoke, and Robert atte Houk were all listed there 1 Edward III (during the first year of King Edward III's reign). 6

Later, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 included: Margareta del Hoke, webester, Alexander de Hok, and Willelmus de Hok. 5

To the north in Scotland, "William de Huk was in charge of Thomas Galloway, 1296 and Adam de Huke, was a tenant in "vill" of Moffet, 1376. 7

Early History of the Hooke family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hooke research. Another 149 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1270, 1275, 1296, 1417, 1575, 1580, 1600, 1618, 1620, 1628, 1635, 1636, 1640, 1642, 1649, 1653, 1655, 1658, 1664, 1672, 1674, 1677, 1681, 1703, 1712, 1716, 1738, 1763 and 1796 are included under the topic Early Hooke History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hooke Spelling Variations

Until the dictionary, an invention of only the last few hundred years, the English language lacked any comprehensive system of spelling rules. Consequently, spelling variations in names are frequently found in early Anglo-Saxon and later Anglo-Norman documents. One person's name was often spelled several different ways over a lifetime. The recorded variations of Hooke include Hook, Hooke, Hoke and others.

Early Notables of the Hooke family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

Reverend Thomas Huyck DCL (died 1575), Chancellor of the Diocese of London; Sir Richard Hook of Scotland; and Humphrey Hooke (1580-1658), a Member of Parliament for Bristol (1640-1642), who supported...
Robert Hooke, FRS (1635-1703), was an English natural philosopher who discovered Hooke's law. He "was born on 18 July 1635 at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, his father, the Rev. John Hooke, being mi...
Nicholas Hookes (1628-1712), was the author of 'Amanda,' a Londoner by birth, and was a king's scholar at Westminster School. He was elected to a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1649, an...

Migration of the Hooke family to Ireland

Some of the Hooke family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 182 words (13 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hooke migration to the United States +

Thousands of English families boarded ships sailing to the New World in the hope of escaping the unrest found in England at this time. Although the search for opportunity and freedom from persecution abroad took the lives of many because of the cramped conditions and unsanitary nature of the vessels, the opportunity perceived in the growing colonies of North America beckoned. Many of the settlers who survived the journey went on to make important contributions to the transplanted cultures of their adopted countries. The Hooke were among these contributors, for they have been located in early North American records:

Hooke Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Hooke, (1606-1621), who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 aboard the ship "Mayflower" 8
Benjamin Hooke, aged 20, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 aboard the ship "Paul" 8
Nathaniel Hooke, who arrived in Virginia in 1635 8
Edward Hooke, who arrived in Virginia in 1637 8
Richard Hooke, who landed in Virginia in 1650 8
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Hooke Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Adam Hooke, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1765 8

Hooke migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Hooke Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Charles Hooke, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "British King" in 1883

Contemporary Notables of the name Hooke (post 1700) +

William H Hooke Ph.D., Senior Policy Fellow and the Director of the Policy Program for the American Meteorological Society
Roger Hooke Ph.D., American Research Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Climate Change Institute in Maine
Janet Hooke Ph.D., English Professor of Physical Geography at Portsmouth University
Samuel Henry Hooke (1874-1968), English scholar of comparative religion
Luke Joseph Hooke (1716-1796), Irish theologian

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Dickinson, F.H., Kirby's Quest for Somerset of 16th of Edward the 3rd London: Harrison and Sons, Printers in Ordinary to Her Majesty, St, Martin's Lane, 1889. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)