Lucas

Recorded in over one hundred spelling forms ranging from Lucas, Luke, Luck and Luckett (English and Scottish), Lucas and Lucaud (France), Luca (Italy), Luk, Lucker and Lauks (Germany), Luasek and Kasek (Czech), Lukasik (Poland), Lukashevich (Ukraine), Lukovic (Croatia), and many more, this is a 12th century surname of several possible origins. For most nameholders it probably derives from the ancient Greek given name "Loucas", meaning the man from Lucania, formerly a region of Italy. As such it was probably a Crusader name. This was a name associated with the various Christian Crusades in the 12th centuries with knights from all countries in Europe, who attempted to wrest control of the Holy Land, and specifically Jerusalem, from the Muslim grip. All failed, but returning warriors often gave their children names associated with the biblical region, and this was one of them. However the surname can also be of French locational origins, from the town of Luick in Flanders. An example in this respect being that of Lucas de Luke, who is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of the city of London on 1274, whilst another recording from the same period is that of Ulrich der Luk of Dorfzaum, Germany, in 1310. Amongst the early colonists in the island of Barbados was Richard Lucas, whose son Theophilus was christened at Goergs parish church on November 26th 1679. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Euerard Lucas. This was dated 1153, in the register of the Knight Templars of England during the reign of King Stephen, 1135 - 1154. Over the centuries surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.