Legg
An English surname with several possible roots, most often linked to a place-name ending in Old English "ley" or to an old personal name.
The #3,674 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,925 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical writers gave more than one explanation for Legg. One line of thought connects it with Old English place-name elements such as leah/ley, meaning a clearing, meadow, or piece of open ground, so the surname may originally have marked someone who lived by such a place. Another explanation treats it as an old personal name or nickname, and Lower also mentions a possible connection with medieval Latin legatus, "legate" or "ambassador," though that derivation is less secure. The surname can also be confused with or influenced by related forms such as Legge, Legh, Leigh, and Lee.
History
The name is recorded in medieval England in forms such as Andrew fitz Legg and similar spellings. It appears in later surname dictionaries as both a place-based name and, in some cases, an old personal name or sign-name. Modern bearers are chiefly found in England and the English-speaking world, with spelling variants often overlapping with the broader Lee/Leigh/Legge family of surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source even treated Legg as a possible sign-name, not just a place-name, showing how fluid surname origins could be in older scholarship.
From the historical record
“ists' Memorial, ii. 478. LEGG. LEGGE. 1. See under lee. 2. An ancient trader's sign. " The hosiers \ri;i dine at the Ley, The drapers at the sign of the Brush," &c. London's Ordinary, 3. An old personal name. FiU Legg is found in H.R. LEGGAT. Lat. legatns, a legate, am-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom