Hegg History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The surname Hegg is a name whose history on English soil dates back to the wave of migration that followed the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The name Hegg comes from a the baptismal name for the son of Agace. As the naming tradition grew in Europe baptismal names began to be introduced in many countries. Baptismal names were sometimes given in honor of Christian saints and other biblical figures. There are very few Christian countries in Europe that did not adopt surnames from these religious figures.

Early Origins of the Hegg family

The surname Hegg was first found in Huntingdonshire (now a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire) where early records of the name were found as both a forename and a surname. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 revealed: John Messor et Agacia, uxor sua in Cambridgeshire; Agacia de Gatesdon in Devon; Robert filius Agacie in Cambridgeshire; Symon Agace in Huntingdonshire; and William Agaz in Buckinghamshire. 1

The Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379 listed Simon Agasson.

Further to the north in Scotland, the variant Haggis is of "local origin from Haggis, a common place name occurring in the shires of Berwick, Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew, Aberdeen, and Banff. " 2 And the first records of the family include: "Gilbert of Haggehouse, a Scots merchant, was arrested at Lynn in England without cause, 1394; and William Haggus [who] held land in the Almory of Abirbrothoc in 1427." 2

Haggis is a savoury pudding and traditional Scottish dish. Thanks to Robert Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis" in 1787, the pudding is a favourite every Robbie Burn's Day where the poem is recited and the pudding is typically piped in with much ceremony.

Early History of the Hegg family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hegg research. Another 84 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1273, 1379, 1540, 1564, 1601, 1621, 1662 and 1679 are included under the topic Early Hegg History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hegg Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Hegg family name include Haggas, Haggis, Hagis, Hagass, Haggist, Hagges, Hages, Hagus, Hagase, Aggas, Agas, Aggs, Agace, Agus and many more.

Early Notables of the Hegg family

Distinguished members of the family include Robert Aggas, (d. 1679) an English painter, who was employed by Charles II as a scene-painter for the theatre in Dorset Garden. 3Ralph Agas (1540-1621), was a land surveyor, who rose to eminence by making maps of London. He was a native of Stoke-by-Nayland, in Suffolk. 1 3Benjamin Agus (fl...
Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hegg Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hegg Ranking

In the United States, the name Hegg is the 15,491^st most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Hegg migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Hegg surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Hegg Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Friedrich Hegg, who arrived in Galveston, Tex in 1850 5

Hegg migration to Australia +

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

Hegg Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. John Hegg, English convict who was convicted in Coventry, England for life, transported aboard the "Blundell" on 13th March 1844, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 6

Contemporary Notables of the name Hegg (post 1700) +

Eric A. Hegg (1867-1948), born Erik Jonsson, a Swedish-born, American photographer
Steve Edward Hegg (b. 1963), American gold and silver medalist track cyclist and road bicycle racer at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Mrs. L. R. Hegg, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Iowa, 1960 7
Warren Kevin Hegg (b. 1968), English retired cricketer who played from 1986 to 2005 and represented England in two Test matches

Citations +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
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)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 25th October 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/blundell
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 26) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html