According to the late Professor Reaney, the generally acknowledged authority in his lifetime on the origin of English surnames, this surname originates from the village of Trickey in the county of Devonshire, and was first recorded as far back as the year 1238. This would have been at the very begining of surnames as we know them today. Problem solved one might think. Unfortunately not! Professor Reaney gives no explanation as to how he came to this conclusion, other than to say he found it in the place names list for Devon in the year 1238. This may be so but if there ever was a place called Trickey, and it does not appear in Ekwalls "English Placenames," it certainly does not exist today, nor does it seem to have done for a very longtime. The meaning is also obscure but as the suffix - ey means an island, it may have been Tre - ey, or the place on an island. It is estimated that at least three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from "lost" places, so there is no reason why this should not be one of them, except that it is surprising that Reaney failed to notice the fact. The surname is certainly popular in Devonshire which again is surprising for a locational name. Usually in the past when a village "disappeared" for whatever reason, the inhabitants for security would set off as a group to other places, in particular London. In this case early Devonshire recordings taken at random include John Trickeye of Clyst St George, on March 2nd 1583, and two centuries later Humphrey Trickey of Silverton, who married Elizabeth Buller, another popular Devon surname, on January 18th 1803

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