Luce

This interesting name, with variant spellings Lucey and Luce, has three distinct possible origins. Firstly, it may be of French locational origin form any of the places in Normandy, for example, Luce (Orne), so called from the Latin personal name Lucius, a derivative of "lux", light, plus the locational suffix "acum", a settlement. The surname from this source was first recorded in the mid 12th Century, (see below). Other early recordings include Gilbert de Lucie, John de Luce and Richard de Lucy, the 1273, Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Essex respectively. The second possibility is that the name derives directly from the medieval female given name Lucie, related to the Latin Lucius (above). One, William Lucy noted in the 1297 "Ministers' Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall" was the first recorded namebearer from this source. Finally, Luc(e)y is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic O Luasaigh, originally Mac Cluasaigh, "son of the Listener" from "cluas", ear. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Luci, which was dated 1135, in the "Register of Bury St. Edmunds", Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry 1, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. 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.