Stilgoe

Recorded in a numbver of spelling forms including: Stilgo, Stilgoe, Stillgoe and Stilgoes, this is an English surname. It is almost certainly locational and originates either from a now "lost" medieval village, or possibly as a transformed spelling of an existing place such as "Stillgan", a village in the county of Sussex. All surnames with the suffix ending in "-go or -goe" are subject to some argument as to the precise meaning, but in most cases it is generally agreed that this is simply a dialect slang which is principally found in the South East of England, and may not have any meaning at all. It is estimated that at least three thousand surnames of the British Isles including Ireland, originate from now "lost" places, of which the only surviving public memory in the 20th century, is the surname itself. In this case we believe that the origination is probably the Olde English pre 7th century word "stiell" meaning literally a stall, but used in a transferred sense to describe a weir or similar on a river, where fish were trapped. What is certain is that this is a surname which has been recorded in the registers of the diocese of Greater London since at least Elizabethan times. These recordings include such examples as Joan Stilgoes, who married John Warmester at St Margarets, Westminster, on November 12th 1570, Humfrey Stilgoe, a witness at St Nicholas church, Cole Abbey, on October 17th 1574, and Thomasin Stilgo, who married John Warner, at St James church, Dukes Place, city of London, on November 3rd 1691.