- Duke (surname)
-
For other uses, see Duke (disambiguation).
Duke Family name Meaning "leader"; possibly derived from "follower of Maedoc" Region of origin British Isles Related names Dukes Footnotes: Frequency Comparisons[1] Duke is a surname (common: 1 in 7,142 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #874), for which there are two possible origins.
Contents
Etymology
The first is that the surname Duke and its variant, Dukes, are both derived from the various Middle English words duc, duk, and douc, which all came from the Old French word "duc." This ultimately stemmed from the Latin dux, meaning "leader," and is a derivative of ducere, "to lead." The surname was evidently acquired by someone who was looked upon as a leader, not denoting one of noble birth since many captains or military leaders were titled landholders who would have taken their last names from their estates. The surname Dukes translates literally as "Duke's son."
Alternatively, it has been suggested by scholars that the surname is simply a shortened form of Marmaduke, which is from the Irish Maelmaedoc, meaning 'servant of Maedoc.' St. Maedoc was a Christian missionary in 7th Century Wales and Ireland. As a Plantation surname, it can be found primarily in east Ulster and has been Gaelicised as Diúc.
References date back to the late Twelfth century, with Herbert le Duc, a member of the Knights Templar, using the Gallicized version of the name. From 1190–1191, Roger le Duc was Sheriff of London, and three generations of his family succeeded him in this office. The Pipe Rolls for Berkshire refer to Adam Duke in the year 1198, and in 1214 one Henry Dukes is recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls for Warwickshire.
Family Motto
The Duke family uses the motto Gradatim vincimus which translates as "We conquer by degrees." The Dukes family motto is Constanter, meaning "With constancy." [2]
History
Records indicate nameholders came to England during and in the decades following the Norman Conquest, but its usage became more common in the reign of Richard I and especially in the time of King John. In Queen Elizabeth’s long reign the surname often appeared among the rolls of her ennobled subjects who were prominently mentioned in the annals of her time.
Duke families were also found very early in Ireland. According to O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees, Vol. II, some were residing in County Westmeath in the Fifteenth century. The will of one William Duke, of Kyllenagh, Kildare, recorded 1551, is found in the records at Dublin. After this early date the family name appears with more or less variation in form, and with increasing frequency upon the pages of the Irish Public Records. Hanna, in his Scotch-Irish Families of Ulster, estimates that there were in 1890 within the province of Ulster 268 persons bearing the name Duke.
Thus the Dukes were one of the ancient families of England and of Ireland. They are among the earliest recorded by Burke in his pedigrees of the nobility and of the landed gentry. The first mention made of them by this authority was the aforementioned Roger le Duc, sheriff of London. The names of Duke and Dukes have been well-established in the Americas, with one of the earliest arrivals to New England being one Captain Edward Duke in 1634. Humphrey Dukes sailed to Barbados with his wife and servants in 1630.
Some noteworthy people of the Duke name
- Alex Duke (born 1960), American pianist and composer
- Annie Duke (born 1965), American poker player
- Basil W. Duke, Confederate general
- Benjamin Newton Duke, American tobacco philanthropist
- Bill Duke (born 1943), African-American actor and director
- Charles Moss Duke, Jr. (born 1935), American astronaut
- David Duke (born 1950), American politician and white-nationalist activist
- David Duke, (born 1978), Scottish footballer
- Donald Duke, former governor of Nigeria
- Doris Duke (1912–1993), American philanthropist
- Doris Duke, African-American soul singer
- Edmund Duke (1563–1590), English Catholic martyr
- Geoff Duke, English champion road racer
- George Duke (born 1946), African-American musician
- James A. Duke (born 1929), American botanist
- James Buchanan Duke (1856–1925), American entrepreneur and philanthropist
- Jas H. Duke (1939–1992), Australian writer
- John Woods Duke (1899–1984), American composer and pianist
- Ken Duke (born 1969), American golfer
- Matt Duke, English footballer
- Mike Duke, American business executive
- Patty Duke (born 1946), American actor
- P. J. Duke, (1925-50) former Cavan Gaelic Footballer
- Raoul Duke, alter-ego to Hunter S. Thompson, used as both a character and a pen name
- Robert Duke, songwriter pseudonym of Joe Meek
- Robin Duke, Canadian actress and comedienne
- Steve Duke, American saxophonist
- Vernon Duke, Russian composer and songwriter
- Washington Duke (1820–1905), American entrepreneur
- Wesley Duke, former American football player
- William Duke, Scottish lieutenant governor of Bengal
- Zach Duke, American baseball player
Fictional characters:
- Bo and Luke Duke, the good ol' boys of Hazzard County
- Daisy Duke
- Edmund Duke (StarCraft)
- Jesse Duke
Some noteworthy people of the Dukes name
- Alan Dukes (1945– ), Irish politician
- Ashley Dukes (1885–1959), English playwright
- Cuthbert Dukes (1890–1977), English pathologist
- David Dukes (1945–2000), American film and stage actor
- Leopold Dukes (1810–1891), Hungarian historian of Jewish literature
- Mike Dukes (1936–2008), American football player
- Sir Paul Dukes (1889–1967), English journalist and MI6 officer
See also
This page or section lists people with the surname Duke. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link. References
Categories:- Surnames
- Surnames originating in England
- English-language surnames
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
