Show ContentsTogher History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The family name Togher is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon names of Britain. It was originally a name for a person who 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 Togher was a nickname surname given to a courageous person.

Early Origins of the Togher family

The surname Togher 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 Togher family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Togher 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 Togher History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Togher Spelling Variations

Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, French and other languages became incorporated into English through the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Togher include Tucker, Tooker, Toker, Tokker and others.

Early Notables of the Togher 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. 4Giles 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 Togher Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ireland Migration of the Togher family to Ireland

Some of the Togher 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.


United States Togher migration to the United States +

A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants:

Togher Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Patrick Togher, who arrived in Newport, Rhode Island in 1811 5


  1. Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
  2. Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
  3. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  4. Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
  5. 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)


Houseofnames.com on Facebook