Historical variants of the Lovelock Surname


The Web Site at https://britishsurnames.uk suggests that the name Lovelock derives from a combination of two words from Old English: 'lufu', meaning love, and 'loca', meaning enclosure or lock. Alternatively it is suggested that the name derives from the Old English personal name of Lufa, or from a Norman personal name of Lovel.


Is there, though, a possibility that the name has nothing to do with Old English but instead is rooted in the Breton language of Brittany where 'Le Floch' is generally translated as 'Page', as in pageboy? So could it be that a lad, such as the medieval peasant boys pictured here, who came as part of the entourage of one of the Norman Lords to Britain along with the Conqueror back in 1066, had the earliest example of an epithet which was later corrupted in common usage to Lovelock?

The information that follows was compiled by Robert Sterry from research by Gwen Eastment and Janet Hearle

 

NAME
DATE
REFERENCE
SOURCE
William Lovelake 1279 Hundred Rolls, Essex  
Loveloc, I 1283 Subsidy Rolls, Suffolk  
Loveloker (Walter) 1297
Maker of Lovelocks ie curls or plaits of hair, sometimes beribboned/ decorated with leaves - if false, they were fastened with adhesive powder (also mentioned in 1497)
 "Dictionary of British Surnames", Routledge and Kegan P., 1959, London, P.H. Reamey
Loveloc, Wm 1327 Subsidy Rolls, Essex ditto
Lovelok c1370-1390
 Variant occurring in "Piers Plowman".
Loveleke, Wm 1464 William of Hyppingscombe, Forester for Sir John Seymour Administration of Forest of Savernake (Wiltshire)
Liveluck 1632 Hampshire  
Lovelacke 1560 Berkshire (also in 1592)  
Lovelake 1560-1569 Berkshire  
Lovelocke 1591-92 Berkshire/Wiltshire Ernest Weekly, "English Surnames", Murray, London, 1917
Livelocke or Livelock 1632 Hampshire  
Loveluck 1690 Berkshire  
Loveleck 1663-1690 Essex/London  
Lovelocker   Through Middle English, an occupational name; also a term of affection.  
Lovelich - M.E. Middle English As above = "lovely" Ernest Weekly, "Surnames", Murray, London, 1917
Loveloch 1700-1800 Wiltshire Ernest Weekly, "Surnames", Murray, London, 1917
Lovflok 1700 Wiltshire ditto
Lieflok 1700 Wiltshire ditto
Liflok 1700 Wiltshire, Easton Royal ditto
Loveluck 1700 Wales ditto
Leflok 1724 Wiltshire, Easton Royal ditto
Luflock 1730-1750 Easton Royal, Wiltshire ditto
Lovelack 1757 Hampshire and Wiltshire; meaning "dalliance"/from "Laker": a fun loving person. ditto
Levluk     ditto
Loveloch 1816
Glamorgan and Loveluck
 References
Lovelock 1822 Becoming used as the common form "English Names- Sources and Significance", Bardsley, Chatto/Windus
Lovelocks   Sometimes alternative for "Dandy": a wearer of pendant locks - common during pre 16thC and during 16thC. Could also be of French origin.