Jewkes

This interesting surname is of Breton or Cornish origin, and is a patronymic form of the given names "Jukel" and "Jokel". These names are diminutives of the Celtic, Old Breton personal name "Iudicael", composed of elements meaning "lord", and "generous, bountiful". This name was borne by a 7th Century saint, a King of Brittany who abdicated and spent the last part of his life in a monastery. Forms of this name are found in medieval records not only in Devon and Cornwall, where they are of native origin, but also in East Anglia and even Yorkshire, where they were imported by Bretons after the Norman Conquest of 1066. "Judichel" (without surname) was noted in the 1086 Domesday Book of Cambridgeshire, and John Jokes was listed in the 1381 Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as Jukes, Jewks, Juckes and Jewkes. Recordings of the surname from London Church Registers include: the marriage of William Jewkes and Elizabeth Crosse at St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, on August 12th 1629; the marriage of Sarah Jewkes and William Browne on May 28th 1663, at St. Gregory by St. Paul; and the marriage of Humphrey Jewkes and Sarah Whithead at the Temple Church of England, on June 3rd 1680. A Coat of Arms granted to this family depicts three silver eagles' heads erased on a blue shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Iukkes, which was dated 1360, in the "Eynsham Cartulary of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.