Recorded in several forms including Buck, Bucke, Buckman, Buckner, and Bucknor, this is an English surname. It 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, Roger Buckman in 1278 was a goat keeper, as was Walter Bucswayn, noted in the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset in 1327. 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 in 1327. In 1549, Margaret Buck married Patrick Colley at the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, whilst on August 17th 1595 John Buckner, the son of Thomas Buckner, was christened at the church of St Mary Colechurch, both recordings being in the city of London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godwig se Bucca. This was dated 1055 a.d., in the Old English Byname Register for the county of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward, the Confessor, 1042 - 1066. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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