Buggs
An old English surname usually treated as a plural or variant form of Bugg, with a likely nickname or personal-name origin.
The #9,412 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,362 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Buggs is generally understood as a surname related to Bugg, with the final -s often marking a patronymic or pluralized family form. The older writers quoted here suggest that Bugg itself may go back to an old personal name rather than to the modern word "bug," so the surname is not necessarily meant as an insult. Because the historical explanations are speculative, the safest reading is that Buggs developed from an earlier short name or nickname form in medieval England.
History
19th-century surname writers noticed Buggs alongside Bugg and Buggy and debated whether it was a name of contempt or respect. They pointed to an Anglo-Saxon female name, Hothwaru Bucge, as evidence that the base name was old and respectable. The surname remains uncommon, with small numbers in the United States and scattered English-language occurrences.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some Victorian writers specifically argued that Buggs was "a name of reverence rather than of contempt," not a joke about the insect.
From the historical record
“Mr. Ferguson says, there are several " crumbs of etymological comfort for the Buggs. I think (lie adds) a good case may be made out, to show that it is a name of reverence rather than of contempt." At all events it is a name that an A-Sax. lady, Hothwaru Bucge, was not aslaamed of, al- beit she was a holy woman and…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom