Tough (surname)

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 /tuːx/, tookh: 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 surname 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 North America 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 /toʊ/, toh (a rhyme with "though"), 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 /tʌf/, tuhf: that of modern "tough".[8]

People

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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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