DE WICK, DUKE OR DUYCK DERIVATION?

Up until 1475, 'de Wick', 'de Wyke' and 'Duke' were the only surnames of their type -- starting with D and ending with a K, KE, C or CK -- in recorded births and marriages in the British Isles. Both appear to be French-Norman names, but only the Duke surname survived in records of births and marriages in the British Isles over the following centuries.

The 'de Wick' and 'de Wyke' surnames disappeared from birth and marriage records after the birth of Lawrance de Wick b. abt 1290 in Devon. Supposedly, the 'de' was dropped and the surname became Wick, Wyke or Week.

No other new surname -- even remotely looking or sounding like Dewick -- occurs in birth and marriage records for the British Isles until the birth of John Duck, b. abt 1475 in Exeter, Devon. Because the Dukes were already well established in Exeter, it was possibly a simple spelling error that caused the name change to Duck.

With this sort overwhelming evidence it would appear that all of the new surnames could have derived from Duke. However, on this basis, one could claim that the Duke surname itself derived from the earlier name de Wick!

It is possible that some of the new surnames had Continental origins but in most cases none of these new surnames (see Creative Name Changes for Dewick) appear anywhere else in Europe at that particular time in history. However, DUYCK -- an old Dutch name -- is an outstanding exception but the only record of a Duyck birth or marriage in the pre-1800 British Isles was the birth of a girl, JAINE DUYCK, 08 FEB 1628, in Nether Broughton, Leicester. Her father was registered as Thomas Duyck, but his father was registered as William Duick! The surname is pronounced similarly and is, in fact, the same name with a different spelling.

Because 'Y' is interchangeable with 'I' in the English language, it would appear that DUICK or DUICKE could very well be an English spelling of DUYCK, and because DEWICK sounds like DUICK it is likely that they are the same name and particularly so when both surnames were used interchangeably by families.

Also, there is no evidence that the new surnames of DEWICK and DEWICKE -- appearing for the first time in the early 1500s -- derive from the old French name of DE WICK which disappeared in 1290. It could very well be the same surname, but without the continuity of the 'Duke' or 'Duck' surnames, for instance, one cannot say with any certainty that the 'de' and 'wick' was contracted to make 'Dewick'. Why would the 'de Wicks' and 'de Wykes' disappear in 1290 only to reappear in the 1500s as 'Duicks' or 'Dewicks'? Why was there no continuity? It doesn't make sense.

Tentative conclusion?

DEWICK would appear to be a misspelling of DUICK which, in turn, is a misspelling of DUYCK -- an old Dutch name. Because Leicester was the centre of textile technology in the 1500s, it must have attracted many Dutch or Flemish workers. The Duyck surname in Holland is as old as, or older than the old Norman surnames of 'de Wick' and 'Duke'. It probably existed in England long before registration of births and marriages came into force in the 1500s, but because it was not 'Norman' it did not appear in post-Norman invasion England.