Sekulla

This interesting name is of Polish origin, and has two possible interpretations. Firstly, it may be a topographical surname for someone who lived by a conspicuous tree with a knarled, knotty trunk, derived from the vocabulary word "sek", knot, knar. Topographical surnames throughout Europe were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided convenient distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. The name may also be an example of those surnames that were gradually created by the habitual use of nicknames, often referring to a person's physical attributes or peculiarities, or mental and moral characteristics. In this instance, the nickname derived from "sek", as before, used in the transferred sense of a powerful, unyielding man, or a stubborn, awkward one. Modern variants of the name include: Sekulla, Sekluck, Sacolsky, Zakol, Zokkel and Zekolli. Official records of births and marriages in Poland are often late, and indeed scarce, since the country has so often been ravaged by war since medieval times. The first recording of the surname is that of an emigrant to the United States of America. Tomasz Seklucki was born at Kruszyn Wloclawek, Bydgoskiego, Poland, in 1836, and the marriage of Wilhelmine Rosalie Zekolli and Johann Ferdinand Hoephner was recorded in Danzig, West Prussia, on February 7th 1858. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wilhelm Seckel, which was dated August 2nd 1760, marriage to Mary Roberis, in Philadelphia, America, during the reign of King George 11 of England, known as "The Last Warrior King", 1727 - 1760. 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.