This surname recorded as Pegg and the patronymic Peggs, is early medieval English. It has several possible origins. These include being an occupational name for a maker or seller of wooden pegs, or a nickname for a person who walked with a limping gait. In some cases it was even more personal and described one who had a long straight nose! In all cases the derivation is from the pre 7th century Olde English word "pegge". However "Peg" was also a short form of the popular female given name Margaret, so it may be that this is also a source of the surname. If so then this would make it one of a group known as metronymics, or a surname from the mother, rather than as is more usual, the father. Early examples of the surname recording include Turbet Peg of Hampshire in the year 1192, and Ralph Pegg of Somerset in 1243. Examples of the name recording taken from surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London include the christening of Richard Pegg on May 31st 1607, at St. Brides Fleet Street, and the marriage of John Pegg and Elizabeth Davis on November 3rd 1611, at the church of St. Andrews by the Wardrobe. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of Aeluric Pegga. This was dated 1165, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Warwickshire, during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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