Recorded as Tripet, Trippett, Trippitt, Trippack, Trippick, Trippuck, and possibly others, this very unusual surname is of pre medieval French origins. It appears to be a diminutive form of the Anglo-German surname Tripp, but this is not so, the origins being quite different. This surname was almost certainly a nickname for a magician or trickster, as used in the medieval sense of one who performed tricks. The derivation is from the Olde French pre 10th century word "tripot" introduced into Britain after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The word literally translates as schemer, but certainly in ancient times had a more "user friendly" meaning, or it could hardly have survived to become a hereditary surname. Nickname surnames are notoriously difficult to explain with total conviction, as both meanings and even more so, attitudes, have changed out of all recognition over the many centuries since. Without having actually been present when a name was bestowed and accepted, it is impossible to give a certain translation. In this case early examples of the surname recordings include those of Peter Tripet in the rolls known as the Curia Regis for the county of Bedford in the year 1204, and William Tripat of Essex in 1327. Later examples taken from the suriving registers of the diocese of Greater London include: Nicholas Trippett who married Jane Sheapheard on November 6th 1578, at St James Clerkenwell, Richard Trippack, who married Jane Henley at St Benets, Pauls Wharf, on July 1st 1644, and Sophia Trippick, who married John Bynn at St Botolphs Bishopgate, on June 7th 1836.

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