Jiggens

This unusual and interesting name is one of the patronymic forms of the names "Jugg" or "Juggin", which are diminutive forms of "Jekyll", itself of Breton or Cornish origin. The name derives from the Celtic personal name, in Old Breton "Iudicael", which is composed of elements meaning "lord" with "generous, bountiful", and became "Iedecael" and in the modern idiom "Gicquel", surviving in French as "Jezequel". The name "Iudicael" was borne by a 7th Century Saint, a King of Brittany who abdicated and spent the latter part of his life in a monastery. The personal name is found in Devon and Cornwall, as a native name, and also in East Anglia and Yorkshire, areas of Breton settlement after the Conquest of 1066. The modern surname can be found as Juggins, Jeggons, Jiggens and Jiggins. Among the recordings of the name in London is that of the christening of James, son of Thomas and Mary Jiggins, at St. James's in Clerkenwell, on May 14th 1710. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Jokin, which was dated 1275, in the "Suffolk Hundred Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.