Scragg

This unusual and interesting surname has two possible sources. Firstly, the surname may be of Scottish locational origin, from the lands of Scrogges in the barony of Stobo, Peeblesshire. The derivation of the name comes from the Scottish and northern English dialect terms "scrag" and "scrog", parallel in meaning to the Olde English pre 7th Century "stocc", stock, stump of tree. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Adam of Skrogges, burgess of Haddington, rendered homage in 1296, and William del Skogges of Peeblesshire rendered homage in the same year. Secondly, the surname may be of early medieval English origin, and would have been a nickname for a thin, bony person, from the Middle English "scrag", thin or scrawny. Recordings of the surname from various Church Registers include: the christening of Danyell Scragg on November 22nd 1558, at St. Botolph's without Aldgate, London; the marriage of Alexander Scrag and Jean Black on April 4th 1656, at Old Machar, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire; and the christening of An, daughter of Thomas and Frances Scragg, on December 11th 1687, at Allhallows the Great, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Scrogges, which was dated 1208, in the "Records of Peeblesshire", Scotland, during the reign of King William "The Lion" of Scotland, 1165 - 1214. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.