Badge History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The family name Badge is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon names of Britain. It was originally a name for a person who worked as a peddler who would travel buying and selling goods for profit. Another source claims the name was derived from the French word bagagier, or baggage-carrier. 1 A 'badger,' a hawker, was also a dealer in corn and other commodities, buying in one place to sell in another. 2

Early Origins of the Badge family

The surname Badge was first found in Yorkshire where one of the first records of the name was Richard le Bagger, who was listed on the Assize Rolls of Lancashire in 1246 and later in Yorkshire in 1297. Later Yorkshire rolls included Adam Badger in 1324. 3

Badger was a Warwickshire name in the reign of Henry VIII.. There was a Thomas le Baggere in the adjoining county of Oxford in the 13th century. 4

Early feudal rolls provided the king of the time a method of cataloguing holdings for taxation, but today they provide a glimpse into the wide surname spellings in use at that time. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included Thomas le Baggere, Oxfordshire and later the Lay Subsidy Rolls listed Robert le Bagger, Lancashire, 1333. The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Willelmus Bagger; and Ricardus Badger. 2

Interestingly, none of the dozen or so sources we consulted felt the name could have derived from badger, the animal.

Early History of the Badge family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Badge research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1573, 1580, 1585, 1602, 1605, 1610, 1629, 1639, 1641, 1651, 1778 and 1816 are included under the topic Early Badge History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Badge Spelling Variations

Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, French and other languages became incorporated into English through the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Badge include Badger, Badge, Bagehot, Baghot, Badghot and others.

Early Notables of the Badge family

Distinguished members of the family include

George Badger, English bookseller in London who held a shop at St. Dunstan's Churchyard in 1641 and later at St. Dunstan's Churchyard, Fleet Street, 1641-1651. He is thought to have been a relation of...
Richard Badger was the son of John Badger, of Stratford-upon-Avon. The parish registers of the town do not confirm this, the only entries of a Richard Badger being Richard, son to George Badger, born...
Thomas Badger was a London printer, son of Richard Badger. He printed as the assign of Thomas Purfoot the second, and on that printer's death in 1639 was elected a master printer in his place, and in...
On the more infamous side, Charlotte Badger (1778-1816) is widely considered to be the first Australian female pirate. She was also one of the first two white female settlers in New Zealand

Badge migration to the United States +

A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants:

Badge Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Badge, who arrived in Virginia in 1642 5

Badge Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Mr. Richard Badge, (b. 1885), aged 20, Cornish miner, from Penzance, Cornwall travelling aboard the ship "Lucania" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 15th April 1905 en route to New York, USA 6

Badge migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Badge Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Thomas Badge, aged 30, a miner, who arrived in South Australia in 1851 aboard the ship "Omega" 7
Mr. Harold Badge, (b. 1869), aged 22, Cornish settler travelling aboard the ship "Jumna" arriving in Queensland, Australia on 20th July 1891 8

Contemporary Notables of the name Badge (post 1700) +

James Badge Dale (b. 1978), American actor most famous for his role of Chase Edmunds in the third season of 24

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retreived 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_ellis_island_1892_on.pdf
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) OMEGA 1851. Retrieved http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1851Omega.htm
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retreived 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_australia_queensland.pdf