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Tupper History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Motto Citations

Tupper History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Tupper family

The surname Tupper was first found in Saxony where they were an ancient family "well known in the literature of Germany and France." 1 The family held a family seat at Thuringe in later years. The family became dispersed when they were beset by the religious conflicts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Under Charles V of France the main branch were described as Lutherans or "tout-perd" which in the Netherlands became Toupard. From this source, "the principal branch went to Guernsey in 1548." 1 Another source follows this timeline but adds "A branch of the family settled in England at Sandwich, Kent, whence another descendant, Thomas Tupper, went to America in 1635, and helped to found the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1637." 2 Yet another source claims a completely different origin of the name. In this case, the name originated at "York in 1365 [when] men were employed in beating and ramming (tupant) the earth and mud, strengthened with straw, with rammers (tuppis) and great hammers. As the rams were called tups, these workmen may well have been named tuppers." 3 The latter source may have some credence as early rolls revealed: Robert Tophird in the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire in 1327, 3 and Willelmus Tuphird in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 4

Early History of the Tupper family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tupper research. Another 140 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1548, 1821, 1887 and 1896 are included under the topic Early Tupper History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tupper Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Topper, Toppfer, Tupper, Touper, Toper and others.

Early Notables of the Tupper family

Notable in the family at this time was

Sir Charles Tupper

Tupper Ranking

In the United States, the name Tupper is the 8,428^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 5

Tupper migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tupper Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Tupper, who settled in Lynn Massachusetts in 1630
Thomas Tupper, who landed in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1637 6

Tupper Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Alfred Tupper, who settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1820
Peleg Tupper settled at Newbern, North Carolina in 1820

Tupper migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tupper Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Archelaus Tupper, who landed in Canada in 1834

Tupper 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:

Tupper Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

H. Tupper, who arrived in Wellington, New Zealand aboard the ship "Asterope" in 1867

Tupper migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 7

Tupper Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Tho Tupper, aged 21, who arrived in St Christopher in 1635 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Tupper (post 1700) +

Stanley Roger Tupper (1921-2006), American politician, U.S. Representative from Maine
Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983), American inventor of Tupperware, an airtight plastic container for storing food
Benjamin Tupper (1738-1792), American soldier in the French and Indian War, and an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War who achieved the rank of brevet brigadier general, co-founder of the Ohio Company of Associates
Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983), American businessman, inventor of Tupperware
Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889), English poet and antiquarian, best known as the author of Proverbial Philosophy
Eliakim Eddy Tupper (1822-1895), Canadian block maker and politician who represented Digby County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1890 to 1895
William Johnston Tupper (1862-1947), Canadian politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (1934-1940)
James Tupper (b. 1965), Canadian actor best known for his role as Jack Slattery on the ABC television series Men in Trees
Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper (b. 1964), 6th Baronet of Armdale, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sir Charles Hibbert Tupper (1930-2008), 5th Baronet of Armdale, Halifax, Nova Scotia
... (Another 8 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Tupper family +

Halifax Explosion

Mr. George Edward Tupper (1876-1917), Canadian resident from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who died in the Halifax Explosion (1917) 8
Mrs. Lydia Jane Tupper (1879-1917), Canadian resident from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada who died in the Halifax Explosion (1917) 8

The Tupper Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: L'espoir est ma force
Motto Translation: Hope is my strength.

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
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)
"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)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
Halifax Explosion Book of Remembrance | Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. (Retrieved 2014, June 23) . Retrieved from https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/what-see-do/halifax-explosion/halifax-explosion-book-remembrance