Segrott

Perhaps not surprisingly this English surame is recorded in many different spellings. These include Sagreet, Sagrott, Seagrott, Segrott, Seegrott, and Seagroat. We believe that it has a similar, and possibly identical origin, to the famous surname Seagrave. This is a locational or residential surname originating from a place in the county of Leicestershire called Seagrave. The translation of Seagrave is probably a grove of trees in a hollow from the Olde English pre 7th century 'sead' meaning a pit or hollow, and 'graf', a grove of trees, although 'groef,' meaning a dike or ditch is also a possibility. Locational surnames are usually from names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. The further they travelled the more likely that their name spelling changed. In this case the surname is quite well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London suggesting that it has travelled from some distance. These recordings include John Segrott, a christening witness at St Andrews Holborn, on June 17th 1787, and Roger Seegrott, also a christening witness at St Leonards Shoreditch two years earlier on March 4th 1785.