Boag

Recorded in a number of spellings including: Boag, Boig, Boik, Bog, Boog, and Book, this is a Scottish surname is some antiquity. It is apparently locational or at least residential, and may originate from the lands of Boak in the parish of Kirkholm, Shetland, although an alternative suggestion is that it derives from the pre 7th century word "balk" which can be applied to a bridge formed of balks of timber. This was also often a term used to indicate a boundary maker for a parish or barony. It is said that no trace of the name exists in Shetland, however this is not unusual as locational names being "from" names, were usually given to people after they left their original homes and moved somewhere else. It is also claimed that the four spellings as shown above indicate at least two and possibly four separate sources although the meaning may be the same, and this is probably true. Certainly as Bog the name was originally well recorded in 17th century Berwickshire, although the first proven recording is possibly that of Edward Bog, a priest at St Andrews in Fife in 1505. Other recordings from this early period include Gilbert Boage, a witness in Kirkwall in 1523, George Bog who held the remunerative position of "Master of the Queen's beer celler" in 1563, David Book, a merchant in Edinburgh in 1610, John Boig, a tenant in the barony of Coldynghame, Berwick in 1622, and William Boick who was martyrd in Glasgow in 1683 "for his religious belief"