Mandrake

This is a very unusual and rare, and in the media, famous surname. Although it appears to be very English, we have not been able to find any public recording in any register before that of the (quaintly named) Innocent Mandrake. He married the (exotically named) Magdalene Young, at St Georges chapel, Mayfair, Westminster, on March 14th 1753. Furthermore there is no other spelling quite like it in the International Genealogical Index of surnames of the world. Certainly there are many names that commence with the prefix Man or Mand, but none have a suffix which is comparable with drake or rake. So is it a created or transposed name, and if so where from? The registers of France which is from where most "uncertain" surnames came to the British Isles from the 16th to the 18th centuries has spellings such as Mandrey, which given the thick accents and indifferent spelling of the period may suggest it as a possibility. However the use of the personal name Innocent was usually at that time (in England) associated with nonconformism, although it was also the name of a number of popes. We have also examined the registers of The Netherlands and Germany, but neither have provided any clues except possibly Mandrich. This was formerly a personal name of pre 7th century origins which may translate as people-rich. Margaretha Mandrich is recorded in Zeitz, province of Sachsen, in 1591.