History of the Badger Surname

Blazon of Arms:	Ermine, three gold eagles on a red diagonal bend
Crest:	A black bull’s head, full-faced, between the horns is a running silver greyhound with a red collar (click for Badger crest)
Origin:	England
Motto:	In cruce salus: Salvation from the Cross

Most researchers believe that the English surname Badger has two possible sources. The surname has no connection with the animal the badger.

Most researchers embrace a toponymic origin for the surname (indicating the place where the bearer lived). In this case the surname means a person who lives in Badger—a Shropshire village. The meaning of the village name is obscure, but the Domesday Book of 1086 gives it as Begesour, Bechesore, and Beghesovre. Beghesovre indicates the Old English element ofre, meaning a river bank or slope, so perhaps the village was built on the banks of the River Beg, or perhaps on a river bank by some beech trees (Old English bece).

Other researchers embrace an occupational origin for the surname—deriving it from the trade of the original bearer. In this case the surname is traced back to the Old English bagge, meaning a bag or small sack. A bagger was one who made or sold bags, and the rare surname Bagger is thought to be of this origin. Some have suggested that the surname Badger is an idiomatic form of Bagger, and the two names are linked by the meaning of peddler and hawker in the year 1450, a person who carried a bag on his shoulder.

Earliest known records of Badgers:

Date	Record
1221	William de Beggeshour, the Assize Rolls of Shropshire
1246	Richard le Bagger, the Rolls of Lancashire
1324	Adam Badger, the Records of the Manor of Wakefield

The information above was gleaned from:

The World Book of Badgers, Halbert’s Family Heritage, MCMXCIV

The Historical Research Center, 1993, 1994