This most interesting surname is one of the diminutives of "Fulcher" which derives from the Old French personal name "Foucher" or "Fouquer", itself adopted from the Old Germanic personal name "Fulchar" or "Fulcher", composed of the Germanic elements "folk", people and "hari", "heri", army, and introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066. Less likely sources of origin are the Olde English personal name "Folchere" which is not recorded after 824, or the Old Danish personal name "Folkar", "Fulcher" was recorded as a personal name in the Domesday Book of 1086 while the surname itself first appears in records in the late 13th Century (see below). Robertus filius (son of) Fuche was mentioned in 1170 in the Transcripts of Charters relating to the Gilbertine Houses (Lincolnshire). Other spellings of the surname include Fudge, Fuidge and Fuche. Ane Fudge married William Holomer at Allhallows, Honey Lane, London on July 2nd 1609, and Alice, daughter of George and Prudence Fuge was christened on May 8th 1629 at St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Fuche, which was dated 1297, "The Coram Rege Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1st, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272-1307. 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.

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