Chicken

This unusual name is of early medieval English origin and has a number of possible interpretations. Firstly, it can be a metonymic occupational name for someone who bred poultry for the table, derived from the Middle English word "Chike", a shortened form of "chike", in old English, pre 7th Century, "cicen", young fowl. In some cases the name may have been used as a nickname derived from the same word and used as a term of endearment, in much the same way as "lamb" and "duck" are still used today. Lastly the modern surname "chick" may be a variant of the name "cheek", derived from the old English "ceace", "cece", jaw-bone, used as a nickname for one with a prominent jaw. Jacob Chick and Elizabeth Fidler were married in London in 1601. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Chike, which was dated 1198, in the "Dorset Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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.