Byk

This interesting surname is derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name Bicca from "becca" meaning "pickaxe", "mattock". Secondly, it may be an East Ashkenazic name being the German or English spelling of the East Yidish "bik", Polish "byk", or Russian "byk", all meaning "ox" or "bull", one of the many ornamental names taken from the animal kingdom. The personal name dates back to the late 13th Century and recordings include Bike (1273) "The Hundred Rolls of Essex", and Bike le Clerk (1273) "The Hundred Rolls of Essex". The surname first appears at the end of the 13th Century, (see below). London church recordings include one William Bye who married Jone Chapman on January 18th 1554, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Bicke, was christened on June 17th 1602, at St. James, Clerkenwell. Anne Bick was christened on July 28th 1633, also at St. James, Clerkenwell. One J. Bick, aged 24, a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Waterloo" bound for New York on May 22nd 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Bike, which was dated 1273, The Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.