The origin of the name is not entirely certain, but since it has a long history as a surname on the continent, as in England and from thereon, also in the United States, it presumably has the same Saxon roots. The Saxons were a West Germanic people living in the northwestern part of the current Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the Netherlands. The Romans never ruled them and after they left, the power of the Saxons in the region grew. In the 5th Century AD, their expansion policy took them across the North Sea to Britain. There they established power in most parts of the island.
In England
Recorded as both Tucker and Tooker, the derivation of the English occupational surname comes from the Old English, pre-7th Century verb tucian, meaning "to torment." It would have been for a fuller, also known as a "walker," one who softened freshly woven cloth by beating and tramping on it in water. "Tucker" was the usual term in the southwest of England (and South Wales as well), "walker" in the west and north, and "fuller" in the southeast and East Anglia.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of one Baldwin Tuckere in the 1236 Records of Battle Abbey in Sussex. Nevertheless, one should not be too hasty to assign English origin to bearers of the surname.
German and Dutch origins
Linguistically, the word tucker is assumed to be related to the German tucher, which means "towel-maker." In the 15th Century, the bulk of the German cotton trade was in the hands of the Tucher von Simmelsdorf family in Nürnberg, where Tucher Castle still stands.
In Old Dutch, which is closely related to Old German, the word tuch was often used as a verb to mean "to tug sharply" (see above). The similar linguistic origin of these words is also recognizable in the English etymology.
In the Netherlands the earliest known Tucker was Jan Tucker, who in 1368 sold a house on the Hagedijk Road to Antwerp in the city of Breda. Breda held a local monopoly on the wool trade in those days. Over the centuries the Dutch form of the surname has been spelled both Tucker as well as Tukker.
Tucker can also be an Anglicized form of the Irish surname O'Tuachair, which first appeared in the Annals of Ulster in 1126 AD as Uá Tuathchair It is not uncommon to see Anglicized representations of Irish surnames, and myriad examples may be cited. According to Patrick Woulfe, in his book Irish Names and Surnames it is the name of two distinct septs; one from the Irish Midlands region known as Ely-O'Carroll (which includes parts of County Tipperary and County Offaly), and another from County Mayo. These findings were confirmed by the first Chief Herald of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, and published in his book More Irish Families.
Variants of the Irish surname include Toher, Togher, and Tougher.
Noble house of Tucher von Simmelsdorf.Abi Tucker (born 1973), Australian singer-songwriter and actressAbraham Tucker (1705–1774), English philosopherAlando Tucker (born 1984), University of Wisconsin basketball playerAlbert Tucker (artist) (1914–1999), Australian artistAlbert W. Tucker (1905–1995), Canadian-American mathematicianAlfred Robert Tucker (1849–1914), Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa from 1897 to 1911Anand Tucker (born 1963), Thai-British filmmakerAnne Wilkes Tucker, American museum curatorAnnette Tucker, American songwriter and producerArt Tucker (born 1959), American boxerB. J. Tucker (born 1980), American football playerBarbara Tucker, African-American singer-songwriterBenjamin Tucker (1854–1939), American anarchistBernard Tucker (1901–1950), English ornithologistCharles Tucker (mayor) (1857–1928), Australian politicianCharles Tucker (British Army officer) (fl. 1855–1935), British Army GeneralCharles Tucker (test pilot) (1919–2010), American test pilotCharlotte Maria Tucker (1821–1893) English writerChris Tucker (born 1972), African-American actorCorin Tucker (born 1972), American singer and guitaristCynthia Tucker (born 1955), American opinion columnistDaniel Tucker (1740–1818), American minister and military officerDarcy Tucker (born 1975), Canadian hockey playerDeborah Tucker, American actress and figure skaterC. Delores Tucker (1927–2005), African-American politician and civil rights activistDonald Kofi Tucker (1938–2005), American politicianDuncan Tucker, American filmmakerEarl Snakehips Tucker (1905–1937), American dancerEbenezer Tucker (1758–1845), American judge and legislatorEddie Tucker (born 1966), American baseball playerFender Tucker, editor and publisher of Loadstar disk magazineForrest Tucker (1919–1986), American actorFrank T. Tucker (1864-1910), American politicianGee Tucker (born 1946), African-American actor, model, and businesspersonGeorge Tucker (disambiguation)Gordon Tucker, American rabbiHarold Tucker, Lord Mayor of Manchester, England, from 1984–1985Henry Tucker (disambiguation)Janeiro Tucker (born 1975), Bermudian cricketerJason Tucker (born 1976), American football playerJeffrey Tucker (born 1963), American writer and publisherJeremy Tucker (born 1974), African-American pornographic actorJerry Tucker (1925–2016), American actorJim Guy Tucker (born 1943), American politicianJohn Tucker (disambiguation)John Bartholomew Tucker (born 1930), American radio and television hostJosiah Tucker (1713–1799), Welsh churchman, economist, and political writerJames Neil Tucker (1957–2004), American convicted of murderer and executedJonathan Tucker (born 1982), American actorJosiah Tucker (1713–1799), economist and political writerKarla Faye Tucker (1959–1998), American convicted of murder and executedKeith Tucker, American electronic musician and disc jockeyKeith Tucker (footballer) (born 1936), English footballerKerrie Tucker (born 1948), Australian politician and activistKevin Tucker (disambiguation)Lamin Tucker (born 1982), Sierra Leonean Olympic sprinterLisa Tucker (author), American authorLisa Tucker (singer) (born 1989), American singer and actressMark Tucker (disambiguation)Maureen Tucker (born 1944), American musicianMaurice Tucker (born 1946), British geologistMichael Tucker (disambiguation)Mike Tucker, Welsh special effects expertNana Tucker (born 1957), American actressNathaniel Beverley Tucker (1784–1851), author and law professorNathaniel Beverley Tucker (journalist) (1820–1890), diplomatOrrin Tucker (1911–2011), American bandleaderP. J. Tucker (born 1985), American basketball playerPatricia Tucker (Kabbah), wife of Sierra Leone's President KabbahPaul Tucker (disambiguation)Peter L. Tucker, Sierra Leonean civil servantPhil Tucker (1927–1985), American filmmakerPreston Tucker (1903–1956), American automobile designer and entrepreneurRachel Tucker (born 1981), Northern Irish singer and actressRalph Tucker (1906–1977), American politicianRaymond Tucker, three-term Mayor of St. Louis, MissouriReuben Henry Tucker III (1911–1970), United States Army officerRex Tucker (1913–1996), British television directorRichard Tucker (1913–1975), cantor and singerRichard Hawley Tucker (1859–1952), American astronomerRobert C. Tucker (1918–2010), American political scientist and historianRobert B. Tucker (born 1953), American author, consultant and professional speakerRobert W. Tucker, American writer and teacherRoberto Tucker (born 1983), Argentine footballerRoman Tucker, Australian musicianRosina Tucker (1881-1987), American labor organizer, civil rights activist, and educatorRoss Tucker (born 1979), American football playerRoy A. Tucker (born 1951), American astronomerRyan Tucker (born 1975), American football playerSt. George Tucker (1752–1827), Bermudian-American judgeSamuel Tucker (1747–1833), American naval officerSamuel Wilbert Tucker, American civil rights attorneyShankar Tucker, American clarinetist and composerScott Tucker (disambiguation)Sophie Tucker (1884–1966), singer and comedianSt. George Tucker (1752–1827), lawyer and law professorTanya Tucker (born 1958), American country musicianTerre Tucker (1944–1990), American modelThomas Tudor Tucker (1745–1829), American physician and politicianThomas Tudor Tucker (admiral) (1775–1852), Rear Admiral in the British Royal NavyTilghman Tucker (1802–1859), American politicianTommy Tucker (baseball) (1863–1935), American baseball playerTommy Tucker (singer) (1933–1982), American singer-songwriterTony Tucker (born 1958), American boxerTorrin Tucker (born 1979), American football playerTrent Tucker (born 1959), American basketball playerTui St. George Tucker (1924–2004), American composer and musicianWalter R. Tucker, Jr. (1924–1990), American dentist and politicianWalter R. Tucker III (born 1957), American minister and politicianWilliam Tucker (disambiguation)William G. Tucker (born 1935), modernist British sculptorWilliam H. Tucker, American psychology professor and critic of race scienceWilliam Jewett Tucker (1839–1926), American college administratorWilson Tucker (1914–2006), American theater technician and writer