Stuckey

This interesting and unusual surname is a variant of Stock, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is from a topographical name for someone who lived near the uprooted trunk or stump of a large tree, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "stocc", stock, trunk or stump of a tree. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names. In some cases, the reference may be to a primitive foot-bridge over a stream, consisting of a felled tree trunk. Some early examples of the name, without prepositions, may point to a nickname for a stout "stocky" man, or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of punishment stocks. Recorded in the London Church Registers is the christening of John Stuckey on August 11th 1616, at St. Botolph without Aldgate. A Coat of Arms granted to a Stuckey family in Devon is per bend sinister dovetailed gold and blue a lion rampant double queued ermine, the Crest being a demi lion rampant double queued ermine. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de la Stokke, which was dated 1225, witness in the "Assize Rolls of Somerset", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.