Akrigg

Recorded in various forms including Akrigg, Aiskrigge, Askrigg, Eskrick, Eskrigg, Eskrigge, and others, this is an English locational surname. It originates from either Eskrigge, a now lost or at least diminished, medieval village near the county town of Lancaster, Lancashire, or from Askrigg, a village in North Yorkshire, or Escrick, a village near the city of York, in East Yorkshire. All have similar pre 9th century Viking origins, being almost certainly from the words eski-ric, meaning the ash trees near the (fortified) ditch, moat or stream. Askrigg in North Yorkshire is probably the most famous of the places, and is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Escric, a spelling which would seem to confirm its origin. Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. Spelling being at best indifferent, and local accents very thick, lead to the creation of "sounds like" forms, some quite remote from the basic name. In this case examples of recordings include Thomas Eskrigge of Over Kellett, in the Lancashire Wills register (confusing kept) at Richmond in Yorkshire, in 1569, Ann Escrick of Escrick in Yorkshire, in 1624, and Martha Askrig who married Benjamin Greathead at St Peters church in the city of Leeds, in 1692.