DWEKE - possible JEWISH origin? 1500's

[WideEyedGirl]

Hello all,

I've traced part of my father's line back to a marriage at Rotherham (how my family seem to love the place!) on 6th February 1559 - the marriage is between JOHN KENTE and JOAN DWEKE.
(I have only seen the index record for this on FamilySearch, so I haven't seen the image for this record - if it exists it could hold other information that I haven't found yet).

Having never heard of the name DWEKE before, I decided to look into it. The first result that came up was a page for the DWEK/DUWAYK/etc. name, suggesting it to be a Jewish name, particularly common in the Sephardic Jews. That led me to this on Wikipedia;
"After the expulsion, there was no Jewish community, apart from individuals who practiced Judaism secretly, until the rule of Oliver Cromwell. While Cromwell never officially readmitted Jews to Britain, a small colony of Sephardic Jews living in London was identified in 1656 and allowed to remain".
There was the Edict of Expulsion in 1290, supposedly expelling ALL Jews from England.

I'd really like to look into this further, as I'm presuming there weren't as many Jews in England in the 1500's as there possibly are today. That is, if the name is Jewish. Could it be a misspelling of a more common name, like Duke?
And any way to trace Joan would be really appreciated - I haven't been able to locate a baptism record (or any other record) for her yet apart from the marriage record.

Many thanks for any help you can offer - a Jewish link would really make an exciting discovery!

Holly

[arthurk]

Looking at the image of the register I think the second letter may not be quite wide enough for a "w" - the others on the page have three clear vertical strokes, whereas this has two, and the final bit is crossed by the stroke leading in to the "e". I think it's more likely to be a "u", and that this is a variant of DUKE.

The register doesn't give any more information - just the two names, mary^d and the date. The writing is clear and well-preserved.

Arthur

[WideEyedGirl]

Thank you Arthur, that would explain why I couldn't trace Joan with the surname she had on the marriage record 

[arthurk]

I still think it's a form of Duke, and I'm also rather doubtful about a Jewish connection, but just in case she does turn out to be of Jewish origin, a church baptism register would then be one of the last places you'd expect to find her.