Baggs

This very unusual and interesting name has two possible origins, the first of which is from the early medieval English form of the Old Germanic personal name, "Bac(c)o, Bahho", from the root "bag-", to fight. The name was popular among the Normans, who introduced it into England after the Conquest of 1086 in the forms "Bacus" and "Bacon", which developed into the modern surnames Bacon and Backon, with the diminutive forms Baggett, Bag(g)at(t) and Bagehot, and the patronymic Bagg(e)s. The second possible origin of the surname Bagg(e)s, is from a medieval metonymic occupational name for a maker of bags and sacks of various kinds, including wallets and purses, derived from the Middle English "bagge", bag. Among the recordings of the name in London is that of the marriage of Charles Baggs and Bridget Long, at St. Katherine by the Tower, on February 22nd 1684. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Bagge, which was dated 1166, in the Norfolk Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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.