This is a medieval English nickname surname. Associated and confused with the similar but even rarer Luckless, Lockless literally describes a person without "locks". According to one of the dictionaries of English surnames this does not mean a bald person, but a person with straight hair. Since arguably there have always been at least as many, if not more people with straight rather than wavy hair, and as the pre 7th century phrase loc - leas does mean "lock less", it is difficult to understand how the author came to that conclusion. Nicknames by their very nature have always indicated people who in some way are different from their peer group, and it seems at best unlikely that straight hair would fall into that category. Our view is that the name may have referred to somebody who perhaps for military or religious reasons deliberately cut off their hair. The surname is first recorded in the Subsidy Tax rolls of the county of Essex in 1327, with that of John Locles, which may confirm that "Essex man" was already making his cultural mark! This first recording was in the first year of the reign of King Edward 111rd of England. He had a long reign of fifty years, and was famous for in particular creating the first English Navy.

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