Buck

This interesting surname with variant spelling Bucke, has a number of possible origins. Firstly, it may derive from the Old English pre 7th Century "bucca" a male goat or "bucc" a male deer, and would have originated as a nickname for a man with some fancied resemblance to the animal, e.g. strength, speed or sturdiness. One, Herbert Bucke is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Sussex (1195), and Robert Buc appears in the Pipe Rolls of Suffolk (1200). The surname may also be metonymic for longer occupational names, e.g. Roger le Bucmanger, recorded in the Assize Court Rolls of Warwickshire (1221), was a dealer in bucks or venison, and Walter Bucswayn, noted in the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset (1327), was a goat herd. Another possibility is that the name is of topographical origin, deriving from the Old English "boc" a beech tree, and would have referred to someone living by a prominent beech tree. Peter atte Buck, registered in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk, (1327). In 1549, Margaret Buck married Patrick Colley at St. Mary Woolnoth and on December 10th 1549, Lucas Buck was christened at St. Margaret's, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godwig se Bucca, which was dated circa 1055, Old English Byname Register, Somerset, during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, 1042 - 1066. 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.