Tukey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The founding heritage of the Tukey family is in the Anglo-Saxon culture that once dominated in Britain. The name Tukey comes from when one of the family 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 Tukey was a nickname surname given to a courageous person.

Early Origins of the Tukey family

The surname Tukey 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 Tukey family

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

Tukey Spelling Variations

The first dictionaries that appeared in the last few hundred years did much to standardize the English language. Before that time, spelling variations in names were a common occurrence. The language was changing, incorporating pieces of other languages, and the spelling of names changed with it. Tukey has been spelled many different ways, including Tucker, Tooker, Toker, Tokker and others.

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

Migration of the Tukey family to Ireland

Some of the Tukey 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.

Tukey migration to the United States +

Thousands of English families in this era began to emigrate the New World in search of land and freedom from religious and political persecution. Although the passage was expensive and the ships were dark, crowded, and unsafe, those who made the voyage safely were rewarded with opportunities unavailable to them in their homeland. Research into passenger and immigration lists has revealed some of the very first Tukeys to arrive in North America:

Tukey Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Grace M. Tukey, aged 46, who immigrated to Oroville, Washington, in 1913
Chas. W. Tukey, aged 57, who settled in Arlingdon, Massachusetts, in 1914

Contemporary Notables of the name Tukey (post 1700) +

Claude C. Tukey, American Messman in R.V. Hero in 1968, eponym of Tukey Island, Antarctica
Francis Tukey (1814-1867), American City Marshal of Boston, Massachusetts from 1846 to 1852
Lemuel Tukey, American tavern owner and tax collector from the Back Cove area of Portland, eponym of Tukey's Bridge, Portland
John Wilder Tukey (1915-2000), American statistician best known for development of the FFT algorithm and box plot, eponym of Tukey's test, awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1982

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