Tulk - Name

There are two possible sources of this interesting name, the first being that it is a dialectal variant of the Scottish name Tulloch, itself a locational name from a place so called near Dingwall on the Firth of Cromarty, or from any of the various other minor places named with the Gaelic word "twach", meaning a hillock. Other variants include Tullock and Tulloh. Alternatively, Tulk may be a variant of the diminutive form ("son of" or "little") of the name Terry, which is Tilke and derives from the norman personal name "T(h)erry", the Old French "Thierri", composed of the Germanic elements "Theudo", people and "Ric", power. The name Theodoric is from this source. Amongst the sample recordings in London is the christening of Phiolxena Tulk on April 29th 1750 at St. Botolph-without-Aldgate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of James Tulk (marriage to Ann Lovelace), which was dated May 29th 1743, St. Ethelburg, Bishopsgate, London, during the reign of King George II, "The Last Warrior King", 1727 - 1760. 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.