Haggie

This interesting and uncommon name is of medieval Scottish origin, and is a double diminutive form of either of the surnames Haggart or Hagger. Haggart is a corrupted form of the Gaelic "Mac-an-t-sagairt", "son of the priest", usually Anglicized as (Mac) Taggart. Although the marriage of priests and members of the clergy other than clerics in minor orders had been declared illegal and invalid in the 12th Century, it was frequently practised nevertheless, and the surname was well established by the 13th Century. The surname Hagger is much less common in Scotland; it is a variant form of the English surname Haggard, which is of Old French origin, deriving from the Old French and Middle English "hagard", wild, untamed, used originally as a nickname. In medieval England the word was adopted as a technical term in falconry, denoting a hawk that was captured and trained when already full grown, rather than being reared in captivity; the surname may therefore have developed from an occupational name for a falconer. One Andrew Haggie is recorded as receiving payment for the household expenses of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1557, and the marriage of William Haggie and Janet Syme took place in Edinburgh, Midlothian, on June 2nd 1643. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alexander Hagy, which was dated 1395, in the "Book of the Charters of the Priory of St. Andrew's", Scotland, during the reign of King Robert 111 of Scotland, 1390 - 1406. 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.