Lugg

This interesting and unusual surname, with variant spellings Lug and Lugge and cognates Luck, Look, Lock, Luke and Lucas, is chiefly found in Devonshire and Cornwall, and derives from the Medieval male given name Lucas, itself a Latinized form of the Greek Loucas meaning "man from Lucania". Lucania was a region of southern Italy named from "lucis", bright or shining. Lucas is held to be the learned form of Luke, and "Lucas" (without surname) was recorded in "Documents relating to the Danelaw", Nottinghamshire, circa 1150. The popularity of St. Luke the Evangelist contributed to the popularity of the forename in the Middle Ages, and one, Katerina Luke was noted in the 1273 "Hundred Rolls of Norfolk". On October 23rd 1546, Thomas, son of John Lugge, was christened in Barnstaple, Devonshire, and on March 16th 1613, Franncys Lug, an infant, was christened in St. Keverne, Cornwall. A Coat of Arms granted to the Lugg family of Gloucestershire depicts a blue wavy bendlet on a silver bend or diagonal stripe, itself between two narrow silver stripes. The bend represents the shoulder strap worn by the warrior. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Lugg, (marriage to Alice Wattes), which was dated September 22nd 1549, Branscombe, Devonshire, during the reign of King Edward V1, "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. 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.