Edgar
A medieval surname from the old Anglo-Saxon personal name Eadgar, meaning “wealth” or “prosperity” plus “spear.”
The #3,014 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 25,956 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Edgar comes from the early Germanic personal name Eadgar, later written Edgar, which was common among the Anglo-Saxons. The first element, ead, means “wealth,” “prosperity,” or “blessedness,” and the second, gar, means “spear.” As a surname, it began as a patronymic, identifying someone as the son or descendant of a man named Edgar.
History
Historical sources note several different family lines using the surname, which suggests it arose independently in more than one place. Lower records a Scottish family tradition linking the name to Gospatric and ultimately to King Edgar’s line, while also mentioning a Suffolk branch traced to a 13th-century John Edgar of Dunwich. The name was already established in medieval England, where it appears in records as a baptismal or hereditary surname.
Origin
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Fun fact
Edgar was once a royal personal name in Anglo-Saxon England, so the surname preserves a name that was already prestigious in the early Middle Ages.
From the historical record
“EDEY. EDAY. See Eady. EDGAR. Eadgar, a well-known and royal personal name among the A- Saxons. There are probably sever.al distinct families of this designation. The Scottish family deduce themselves from Gospatrick, earl of Northumberland, temp. William I., who was a kinsman of Eadgar Atheling, and a descendant of…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom