An entry in the Close Rolls of Edward I's chancery for April 26, 1278, records that one John le Fucker of Tythinge, imprisoned at Peterborough for the deaths of Walter and William de Leyghton, was granted letters of bail. Lexicographers have been arguing about his name ever since.
In 1990, John Ayto claimed in his Dictionary of Word Origins that the surname is the earliest recorded instance of the English swear word, which otherwise doesn't show up in writing until around 1500 — his theory being that the word existed centuries earlier but was too taboo to commit to paper. Robert Reisner made the case bluntly in 1971: medieval people got names like Charles the Simple and Louis the Pious, "so why not John the Fucker, if that was his most salient quality?"
The skeptics have the duller and probably correct answer. David Wilton points out the name appears in period records as Foucher, Foucar, Fucher, Foker, and Fuker — spellings of Fulcher, meaning soldier. And etymologist Allen Walker Read argued the name proves the opposite of Ayto's theory: if the word had been in use, "the name John le Fucker would surely have been avoided."
Previously:
• Swearing helps with pain — but only if you don't do it all the time
• Nicolas Cage says f*** and s*** and more in this documentary series about swearing
