Bigg

This unusual surname recorded as Bigg, Bigge, Biggs, and Bigges, is of Olde English pre 7th century origins. It derives from the ancient word "bigga" meaning large, and as such was both an original baptismal name, and later in the medieval period, either a nickname surname, or possibly one from a location. Whatever the origin, it is one of the oldest on record, although whether the first named, as shown below, would have recognised his "surname" is conjecture. Like the famous "Little John" of Robin Hood fame, who was according to legend, the largest man in the band of "Merry men", the name may well have been a nickname, for a small person! Be that as it may the name is well recorded in several different parts of England. The surname as Biggs and Bigges is usually a patronymic, meaning the son of Bigg(e), although with Henry de Bigges of Cambridgeshire, in the year 1327, it has the meaning of "from Bigg". There is a small village called New Bigg in Lincolnshire, and it is possible that this man was from that place or a now "lost" medieval village. The village name means "new building". Early examples of the surname recording include Walter Bigg, in the 1177 Pipe Rolls of the county of Suffolk, and Henry Bigge in the 1195 Pipe rolls of Gloucestershire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Aelric Bigga, in the charters known as the Old Bynames register, and dated 1036 a.d. The king on the throne of England at the time was Harold 1st (1035 - 1040).