This unusual surname is the Manx form of the Gaelic patronymic name "Mac Lucais", meaning "son of Lucas". The Manx language is closely related to Scots Gaelic, and many of the surnames found on the Isle of Man are similar to those found in Scotland, except that the Anglicized forms in the Isle of Man have mostly dropped the full patronymic prefix "Mac" and begin with a "C", "K" or "Q". "Lucas" is an ancient personal name deriving ultimately from the Greek "Loukas", meaning man from Lucania, a region of southern Italy. The personal name was extremely popular in the Middle Ages, due in part to the fame of St. Luke the Evangelist, and has generated a wide variety of variant diminutive and patronymic forms, from Luke, Luck, Look and Lugg, to the Gaelic forms MacLucas, McLucas and McLuga(i)sh. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Catherine Clucas, which was dated April 28th 1622, marriage to Robert Kewn, at Melew, Isle of Man, during the reign of King James 1 of England and V1 of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. 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.

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