Rigby
A habitational surname meaning “dwelling by the ridge,” originally from a place-name in northern England.
The #5,388 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,808 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rigby is generally explained as a place-name surname. The name is usually taken to come from Old Norse hryggr meaning “ridge,” combined with an old Norse/English place-name element meaning “farmstead” or “dwelling.” In that sense, it refers to a settlement built by or on a ridge. Some 19th-century writers connect it especially with places in Lincolnshire or Lancashire, but the core meaning is the same: a ridge-side habitation.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as de Riggeby and Rigby, showing its origin as a local byname for someone from that place. Later surname dictionaries also associate it with specific English localities, especially Rigsby in Lincolnshire and Ribby/Rigby in Lancashire. It remained a regional English surname and later spread more widely through migration, including to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older references spell the place-name in forms that look quite different from the modern surname, because medieval scribes often wrote names very flexibly.
From the historical record
“RIG BY (Scand.) Bel. to Rigby (now Ribby), Lanes, 13th cent. Riggeby, Domesday Ri^i = the Ridge-Farmstead [O.N. hrygg-r, a ridge -H b^-r, a dwelling, farm- stead, etc.]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)