2003 (editor in chief). Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, New York1988 (with Flavia Hodges) Dictionary of Surnames, Oxford University PressHardaker English (Yorks.): topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of poor, stony land, from ME hard hard, difficult + aker cultivated land (see ACKER), or habitation name from a minor place in Clapham, W Yorks., called Hardacre, which has this etymology.
Hardcastle English (Yorks.): habitation name from Hardcastle Crags in W Yorks., near Hebden Bridge, so called From ME hard difficult, inaccessible, impregnable, or perhaps cheerless + castel castle, fortress, stronghold (see CASTLE).
Tucker English (chiefly W Country): occupational name for a fuller, from an agent deriv. of ME tuck(en) to full cloth (OE tucian to torment). This was the term used for the process in the Middle Ages in SW England, and the present-day distribution of the surname still reflects this (see also FULLER and WALKER).
