Dukelow from DuCloux: Dukelows Likely French Immigrants to Ireland in 1600s

The Dukelow surname is very likely an anglicized form of one of French family name of Ducloux (or one of its variants: Duclou, and Duclos). The change of the Ducloux surname change likely occurred when our Protestant Huguenot ancestors fled from religious persecution in France and emigrated into England and Ireland. This emigration occurred around the year 1685 during the reign of France’s Louis XIV.

The Ducloux families who fled to Ireland no doubt wanted to fit into their newly adopted homeland. The ‘oux’ ending on their name made this problematic. Those literate in English would find French ending of ‘oux’ odd, difficult to pronounce properly and flag of an emigrant French family. So the ending morphed into a more readily spelled and pronounced ‘low.’

As far as the start of the name goes, it is a really a small step to get “Duke” from “Duc” when speaking with a Irish brough. In addition, the families surely recognized that in both France and their new Irish homeland they were governed by a crown that includes a royalty class called Dukes. The use of ‘Duke’ in the first syllable may have intimated the family had connections to royalty. By way of all of these elements, the “Dukelow” spelling better suited the family and the “DuCloux” spelling fell out of common use in Ireland.

The French Ducloux name is a conjunction of two words: du Cloux, meaning “of the” (or from) and the place name “Cloux.” Cloux is a small village in the center of France. Many original French surnames frequently told of where a person was from. For example, someone with the given name of Jean Claude might be asked from where he comes, and the natural reply being “I’m Jean Claude du Cloux.”

The "cloux" may indicate that the area was a small valley forming a small region. This word appears to be related in language to other words describing boxed-in spaces such as closet and enclosure.
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