Couche

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Norman-French origin and is a metonymic occupational name for a maker of couches, carpets and hangings, an upholsterer and generally one who makes and supplies beds and bedding. The derivation is from the middle English and Old French "couche" bed and "coucheour", "bed-maker", derived from "coucher" to lay down, from the latin "collocare" to place. Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer and later became hereditary. The Tapiser (tapestry workers) and Courchers processed together in the York medieval mystery plays (1415). Varriations of this name are Couche, Coucha, Cowcha and Couchman. The inventory of Skipton Castle of 1526 records "one cowcher, or carpet for a longe table, 56s 8d". One Charles Coucher married Mary Horn at St.Georges, Hanover Square, London in 1760. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John le Cochere. which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls", Sussex. during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.