This interesting surname of Anglo-Saxon origin is derived from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "saegar", in middle English Segar, meaning "sea-spear". The surname dates back to the late 12th Century (see below). Further recordings include one Ralph Segar (1207), "The Curia Regis Rolls of Bedfordshire", and John Seger (1275), "The Hundred Rolls of Norfolk". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Sager, Sagar, Saiger, Seager, Seegar, Seeger. One Margaret Segar was christened at St. Peter, Cornhill, London on August 28th 1541, and the christening of Ralffe Sagar was recorded at Goping, Essex, on May 24th 1548. Thomas Sagar married Elizabeth Coleburn on August 11th 1760 at St. Clement Danes, Westminster. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Sagar, which was dated 1195, in the Pipe Rolls of Dorset, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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.