Boger
A surname with more than one possible origin, but most often explained either as “son of Roger” or as a place-based name from Norman/French or Cornish forms.
The #8,189 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 76,215 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is probably best known as a medieval pet-form or surname variant linked to Roger, meaning “son of Roger” in the older patronymic tradition. Other old surname books also connect Boger with Norman-French forms such as Boschier/Boghier, and one Cornish source gives it a local-place explanation from a form interpreted as “the green or flourishing dwelling.” Because these explanations come from different traditions, the surname may not have a single origin in every family line.
History
The surname appears in medieval records and later spelling variants such as Bodger, Bogers, and Bogerson. It is found in English documentary sources and was also noted in Norman and French-related contexts, showing how surnames could shift in spelling across regions and languages. The surname survives today in relatively modest numbers in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century Cornish etymologist tied Boger to a phrase meaning roughly “the green or flourishing dwelling,” though that explanation is much less certain than the common Roger-based derivation.
From the historical record
“calves' house. There is a place called Bodivial in Crowan. BOGER. From bo-geare, the green or flourishlDg dwelling. BOGGAN, BOGGANS, BOGGON. From bo-giln, the dwelling on the down. Hence the name Vogan. BOGGAS, BOGGIS. From bo^-gasa, the dirty dwelling ; or bo-gas, the house of trouble. There is a place called Boga…”
— Patronymica Cornu-Britannica; or, the etymology of Cornish surnames