This interesting and unusual surname is of English origin and has two possible sources. Firstly, it may be from the Old Norse byname "Buggi" meaning a robust man. It may also derive from the Middle English "bugge" or "bugg" a hobgoblin, bogy or scarecrow and would have originated as a nickname. The surname is first recorded in the mid 13th Century, (see below). One, Thomas Buggy, is noted in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire (1275), and John Bogi appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex (1327). In the modern idiom the surname has many spelling variations including Buggay, Budgey etc.. Early recordings of the surname from London church registers include; Tomazin Buggay, who married Thomas Symon, on November 13th 1541, at St. Benet Fink; on September 17th 1620, Anna Buggey married Humfredus Hollyman, at Martin in the Fields; John, son of Simon Buggy, was christened on March 1st 1635, at St. Margaret's, Westminster; and the marriage of Mary Buggy to John Renton took place on October 5th 1685, at St. Katherine by the Tower. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Buggi, which was dated 1241, in the "Liber Feodorum", Wiltshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.

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