Roebuck

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has two possible sources. Firstly, it may derive from a nickname for a shy or timid person, from the Olde English pre 7th Century "ra" and "bucc", roe-buck. many early English surnames were developed from the habitual use of nicknames, which were frequently bestowed with reference to some fancied resemblance to an animal's or bird's appearance or characteristic behaviour other modern surnames derived from the Olde English "ra" and "raege" (female deer), are Ray, Roe, Raye, Reye and Rae. The Development of "Roebuck" as a surname includes Matilda Robuc (1297, Yorkshire), and Richard Rabuk (1379, ibid). The modern surname may also derive from a "sign-name" where the original bearer lived "at the sign of the roebuck", as in one William atte Robuck, recorded in Parliamentary writs of 1313. One John Roebuck was christened at St. Andrew's, Holborn, in London, on May 11th 1639. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam Rabuck (witness), which was dated 1246, witness in the "Assize Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.