Rigdon
A surname usually treated as a variant of a place-name or older family name built on the element Rig-, with an English-style -don ending.
The #6,586 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,009 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rigdon is most likely an English surname formed from a place-name or an earlier surname containing the element Rig-, combined with the common English place-name ending -don, which often points to a hill or downland. In many cases, surnames of this type began as identifiers for someone who came from a particular locality. The first element is less certain and may reflect a personal name, a landscape term, or an altered spelling of another surname.
History
The name appears to be comparatively uncommon and is best understood as an Anglicized surname type rather than one with a single, well-attested medieval origin. In modern records it is found mainly in the United States, where variant spellings often stabilized far from the surname's original home. Because the form is rare, some bearers may descend from more than one unrelated line that converged on the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The ending -don is a classic clue in English surname study: it often shows up in names tied to hills or downland, even when the first element is obscure.