Figura - Meno

Recorded in many spelling forms including Faig, Feige, Feiken, Feigenbaum, and Figur (German), Vyghen (Flemish), Figg and Figge (English), Figuier (France), Figuera and Higuera (Spain & Portugal), Fagin (English Jewish), Figurski (Polish-German), and many others, this is a topograhical surname of Roman (Latin) origins. It derives from a pre Christian word 'figa' meaning a fig tree, and therefore the ultimate surname describes either somebody who lived by a special fig tree, or more likely was the owner of a plantation of fig trees. This is particularly so with the Polish version of Figurski, as the suffix ending of 'ski' was formerly equivalent to the German 'von' or the French 'de', in that it indicated status and property or estate ownership. Early recordings include John le Figge in the Subsidy Rolls of the county of Sussex, England in the year 1327, and Hans Feiken of Gladbach, Germany, in 1477. Later recordings include those of Anton Figuot, who seems to have been a Frenchman, although he is recorded in Pfalz, Germany on March 28th 1596, and Christian Figur, of Batenstein, Ost Preussen, Germany, on January 11th 1751. Another unusual recording group is that of what seems to be the family Fugurski, who although presumably of Polish origins, are well recorded in Strasburg, West Preussen, Germany, from at least 1837.