Tesch History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Germany

This name is derived from the Middle English phrase "at asche," meaning at, or near the ash tree.

Early Origins of the Tesch family

The surname Tesch was first found in Suffolk where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086. They are believed to be of the same line as the Tascher of Normandy who were elevated to the nobility in 1667 in Normandy.

Early History of the Tesch family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tesch research. Another 101 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1327, 1599, 1680, 1718 and 1719 are included under the topic Early Tesch History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tesch Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Tash, Tache, Taque, Tashe, Tacheau, Tassh and others.

Early Notables of the Tesch family

Another 39 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Tesch Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tesch Ranking

In the United States, the name Tesch is the 7,058^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 2

Tesch migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Tesch or a variant listed above were:

Tesch Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Johann Michel Tesch, who arrived in America in 1741 3
Johann Peter Tesch, who landed in America in 1741 3
Simon Philipp Tesch, who landed in America in 1741 3
Georg Friederich Tesch, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1752 3
Henrich Peter Tesch, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1752 3
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Tesch Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Dorothea Luise Tesch, who arrived in America in 1843 3
Johann Ludwig Tesch, who landed in Galveston, Tex in 1850 3
Lina Tesch, aged 28, who arrived in New York, NY in 1876 3
Charles F Tesch, who landed in Colorado in 1880 3
Carl A F Tesch, who arrived in Mississippi in 1898 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Tesch (post 1700) +

Al Tesch (1891-1947), nicknamed "Tiny", American Major League Baseball baseball second baseman who played in 1915 for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
Carl A Tesch (b. 1867), American clergyman in Minnesota
Willy Tesch, Swedish bronze medalist sprint canoer at the 1970 World Championships
Silke Tesch (b. 1958), German politician
Victor Jean-Baptiste Tesch (1812-1892), Luxembourgish and Belgian jurist, industrialist, journalist
Bruno Emil Tesch (1890-1946), German chemist and co-inventor of the insecticide Zyklon B, co-founder and owner of Tesch & Stabenow (called Testa), a pest control company in 1924
Liesl Tesch (b. 1969), Australian gold medalist wheelchair basketball player at the 2012 Paralympic Games

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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)