Origin of the surname "Hooker"?

Question

Wiktionary claims that the surname Hooker is occupational:

an occupation for a maker of hooks

This seems unlikely to me for several reasons. Were it true, one would expect there to be a corresponding occupational term hooker in the OED — but there is not. The OED gives "hooker" = petty thief back to the 16th century, and "hooker" = prostitute back to the mid-19th, but nothing about makers of hooks.

The name itself goes back at least to the 16th century. For example, Richard Hooker. The name "Hooke" might be related.

Is anything known about this surname? Surely it doesn't mean a petty thief or a prostitute. Perhaps a variant spelling of hawker? (The OED has no evidence of such a spelling, however.)

Answer 1

Surname Database suggests three possible sources [bolding mine; minor adjustments. While naming often stretches logic nowadays and is, I'd say, usually off-topic as with song lyrics, I'd say this involves legitimate etymology]:

Hooks:

Recorded as Hook, Hooke, Hooker, Hookes, Hooks, Huck, Huke, Hocke and Huckes, this is a very early English medieval surname, perhaps even the earliest – or certainly one of that select group. It has three possible origins, although none are directly connnected with piracy or the sea, not even the Hook of Holland!

• The first is locational from one of various places called Hook or Hooke (Old English ''hoc'') in six English counties.
• The second was a very popular nickname for a person with a hooked nose, and also originally ''hoc'', whilst
• the third is from the pre 7th century Olde English ''hocere'', the later ''hooker,'' and occupational for a skilled maker of hooks. These were not initially made from iron or steel, but fashioned using heating and steaming from animal bone.

The modern meaning of a call girl or boy, we understand is 19th century, and based upon ''hooking'' a person. To our knowledge it has no relevance to the origins of the surname – but anything is possible with surnames. Early examples of recordings include one Halwun Hoce in the register of Old English Bynames from the years 1050 - 1071 CE. As surnames are generally accepted as commencing in the three centuries AFTER the Norman Invasion of England in 1066, this means it really is old. Other very early examples include Geoffrey de la Hoke in the county of Devonshire in 1242, and Gervase ad Hokys of Bedfordshire in 1244, both are locational, whilst John Hook of Essex in 1327 is clearly a nickname. The very first known recording of all was that of Osmundus Hocere, in the rolls known as the Liber Elliensis of circa 975 CE. Surname holders have been granted at least twenty coats of arms. Perhaps the first is that of Sir Richard Hook, of the city of York, who served under King Edward 1st of England (1273 - 1307)....

Answer 2

One possibility not represented in the other answer relates to the Middle English hukker (comp. Middle Low German hoker and Middle Dutch hoeker; think modern hawker). Basically, a Hooker or Hucker could come from someone who peddled or auctioned goods. From the Middle English Dictionary:

(a) A petty merchant, peddler, male huckster; ?also, an auctioneer; (b) in surnames.

Examples include

• Adam le Huckere de Saunford
• Joh. Le Hukker
• Richard le Uckermon
• Rob. Le Hockar
• Nicholaus le Hukker

The surnames include examples that could morph into Hooker by switching the [u] or [o] to [oo] and reducing the double letter [kk]. Both spelling changes are plausible between Middle English and Modern English, perhaps even by the time John Hooker was active in the 16th century (Wikipedia). (Compare Middle English spellings of buke or buk to modern book.) Also, one can find genealogical entries where siblings go by both "Hooker" and "Hucker," suggesting possible fluidity between the two spellings (Ancestry.com; WikiTree).