Tucknutt

This very uncommon and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from a now "lost" place thought to have been situated in East Sussex. an estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets are known to have disappeared in Britain since the 12th Century, due to such natural disasters as the "Black Death" of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished, or the widespread practice of enforced "clearing" of lands to make pasture for sheep, during the height of the wool trade in the 14th and 15th Centuries. The placename "Tucknott" or "Tucknutt" means "the north beacon", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "tacn", token, sign, beacon, with "north", north. The placename Nutbourne in Sussex shows the same contraction of "north" to "nut", here meaning "north stream". The modern surname can be found as Tucknott, Tucknutt and Tucknett. The marriage of Thomas Tucknutt and Ann Brown was recorded at Newtimber, Sussex on July 31st 1781. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Stephen Tucknutt (christening), which was dated April 1st 1576, Kelvedon, Colchester, Essex, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.