Bridger - Name

This name is of English topographic origin for someone who lived by a bridge. The derivation is from the Medieval English 'brigge' itself coming from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'brycg' meaning a bridge. Toponymics formed by the addition of -er to some topographical feature i.e. a bridge, brook etc., were particularly common in Sussex in the early 14th Century. The -er meant 'dweller at'. For first recording of the surname, see below. One, Walter le Briggere appears in the 1327 'Subsidy Rolls of Somerset' and a John Bruger in the 1332 'Pipe Rolls of Surrey'. In 1582 Henry Bridger of Surrey was recorded in the Oxford University Register and in 1677 Henry Bridger and Elizabeth Budgen were married in Canterbury. In the 'modern' idiom the name is spelt Bridger or Brugger. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Brigger, which was dated 1327 - 'The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex', during the reign of King Edward III, The Father of the Navy, 1327 - 1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.