Tuker History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The many generations and branches of the Tuker family can all place the origins of their surname with the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name reveals that an early member worked as a fuller, whose job it was to scour and thicken raw cloth by beating it and trampling it in water having derived from the Old English word tucian, which originally meant to torment and later gained the meaning to tuck or to full. 1 Occasionally, the name Tuker was a nickname surname given to a courageous person.

Early Origins of the Tuker family

The surname Tuker was first found in Devon. "Tucker is a very characteristic west of England name. Its great home is in Devonshire, and it is especially numerous in the Barnstaple district. It is also found in numbers in Somerset, and occurs too, but much less frequently, in Cornwall, Dorset, Hants, and Wilts. Tucker was the west of England name for a fuller. " 2

As to agree with aforementioned, another source notes: "Tucker is still a great West country surname, being very strongly represented in Devon, Wiltshire, and Dorset. " 3

The earliest record found for the family was Roger le Tukere, who was listed in the Hundredorum, Rolls for Dorset in 1273. 3

Early History of the Tuker family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tuker research. Another 122 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1557, 1558, 1565, 1590, 1592, 1601, 1614, 1621, 1623, 1625, 1654, 1664, 1676 and 1741 are included under the topic Early Tuker History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tuker Spelling Variations

Before the last few hundred years, the English language had no fast system of spelling rules. For that reason, spelling variations are commonly found in early Anglo-Saxon surnames. Over the years, many variations of the name Tuker were recorded, including Tucker, Tooker, Toker, Tokker and others.

Early Notables of the Tuker family

Notables of the family at this time include William Tucker or Tooker (1558?-1621), English divine, born at Exeter in 1557 or 1558, the third son of William Tooker of that town. In 1590 he became rector of Clovelly in Devonshire, but resigned the charge in 1601. 4 Giles Tooker (c 1565-1623), was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons...
Another 62 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Tuker Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Tuker family to Ireland

Some of the Tuker family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 35 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tuker migration to the United States +

To escape oppression and starvation at that time, many English families left for the "open frontiers" of the New World with all its perceived opportunities. In droves people migrated to the many British colonies, those in North America in particular, paying high rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Although many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, those who did see the shores of North America perceived great opportunities before them. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Research into various historical records revealed some of first members of the Tuker family emigrate to North America:

Tuker Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Thomas Tuker, who arrived in Virginia in 1711 5

Citations +

Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. 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)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
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)