Huckerby

This unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from a place thus called near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. The component elements of the placename are believed to be the Olde English pre 7th Century "hocer", cognate with the Middle High German "hocker", knob, hump, hill, also found as an initial element in Hockerton (Nottinghamshire) and Hockering (Norfolk), plus the Olde English "by", from the Old Norse "byr", homestead, settlement. Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. Regional and dialectal differences subsequently produced several variations on the original spelling of the name, which in the modern idiom is found as: Huikerby, Huccaby, Huckabe and Huckerbe. On May 7th 1584, James, son of Thomas Huckerby, was christened at St. Gregory by St. Paul's, London, and on August 1st 1612, Anne, daughter of Alexander Huckerby, was christened in Owston, Lincolnshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Huckerbe, which was dated October 29th 1581, a christening witness, at Waltham on the Wolds, Leicestershire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "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.