Foggo

This most interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a Scottish locational surname from the parish and hamlet of Fogo in Berwickshire, on the Blackadder, near Duno. The placename derives is name from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "fogga", meaning fog-grass, rank grass, left standing through the winter. During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often used their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Early namebearers include William de Foghou, who was abbot of Melrose in 1310; John de Fogo, who appears as abbot of Melrose in 1425, and was confessor to King James 1 in 1436; Andrew Fogo, a member of an assize court at Cupar in 1521; and William Fogo who was secretary to the archbishop of Glasgow in 1554. Jane, daughter of Walter and Janet Foggo, was born on November 19th 1742 at Edinburgh, Midlothian. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Foghou, which was dated circa 1166, according to "Frasers of Philorth", 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.