Tough (surname)

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Tough is an English language surname, with two distinct known origins.

It is predominantly a Scottish name, a toponymic surname ultimately deriving from Scottish Gaelic tulach, "hillock". A variant spelling is Touch. Both are pronounced like "took" with a long vowel, the "-gh/-ch" sound the same as in "loch". [1] [2] In 1969, The Scots Magazine suggested the name retained its Scottish pronunciation, particularly the "-ch", due to being "sufficiently localised and un-aristocratic to have missed the application of genteel polish." [3] Patrick Hanks described Tough as a variant of Tulloch (from places around Dingwall), [1] while George Fraser Black and David Dobson both wrote that it is a toponymic surname in its own right, from the parish of Tough near Alford, Aberdeenshire. [2] [4] The surname dates to the 14th century in Aberdeenshire, [4] [5] and Dobson noted that it arrived in the United States from a transportee in 1652. [4]

It can also be an English name, originating from Middle English togh or tow(e) (Old English tóh) [1] [6] as a byname for someone with characteristics of toughness: Hanks referred to being brave and stubborn, [1] and Mark Antony Lower referred to being sturdy and capable of endurance. [7] Traditionally pronounced like "tow", it also has Tow as a variant spelling; [1] [6] Clive Upton and William A. Kretzschmar Jr. wrote in the 2017 Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation that the current pronunciation of the non-Scottish surname is that of "tough". [8]

People

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hanks, Patrick (2003-05-08). Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 491–492, 508. ISBN   978-0-19-508137-4.
  2. 1 2 Black, George F. (1943). The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History (republished 2022 ed.). Birlinn Ltd. ISBN   978-1-78885-296-8.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  3. ↑ The Scots Magazine. D.C. Thomson. 1969. p. 111.
  4. 1 2 3 Dobson, David (2003). The Scottish Surnames of Colonial America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 141. ISBN   978-0-8063-5209-1.
  5. ↑ Scots Kith & Kin: A Constant Source of Information for Those Interestd in Scottish Names, Their Clans and Families, with Full Illustrated Clan Map. Clan House. 1960. p. 46.
  6. 1 2 Harrison, Henry (1912). Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary (republished 1969 ed.). Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 231. ISBN   978-0-8063-0171-6.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  7. ↑ Lower, Mark Antony (1860). Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom. J.R. Smith. p. 350. ISBN   978-0-7884-0456-6.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  8. ↑ Upton, Clive; Kretzschmar, William A. , Jr (2017-04-11). The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English. Taylor & Francis. p. 1393. ISBN   978-1-315-45968-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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