Luggar - Name

This long-established and interesting surname, now chiefly found in the south-western English counties of Devonshire and Cornwall, is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century male given name "Leofgar", a compound of the Germanic elements "leof", beloved, and "gar", spear. Introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 in the forms "Lefgar", and "Leuger", the personal name is recorded thus in Feudal Documents from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, uffolk, dated circa 1095, and one Leuegarus mercator appears in the 1199 Pipe Rolls of Essex. The surname was first recorded at the close of the 12th Century also (see below), and further early examples include: Richard Leugar (London, 1272); John Leugor, and William Leuegor, noted respectively in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk; and Richard Loueger, mentioned in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Somerset. In the modern idiom the surname has a number of variant spellings ranging from Loveguard, Lugard and Levenger, to Lugger and Luggar. On January 18th 1547, Eleanora Luggard and Roger Cowling were married at St. Pinnock, Cornwall, and on October 6th 1588, Andrew, son of Ralffe Luggard, was christened at Roborough by Torrington, Devonshire. The family Coat of Arms is a red shield with three leopards' faces in fess within two gold barrulets, between as many silver ostrich feathers erect. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward Leuegar, which was dated 1199, in the "Pipe Rolls of Devonshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.