Sagar (Anglo-Saxon name)

Sagar is a name of Anglo-Saxon origin. It is a patronymic name, hence most if not all people of this surname descend from a man (or even a number of men) known as Sagar. The name most likely derives from the diphthongal Anglo-Saxon word ‘Sægar’, meaning ‘sea-spear’. Presumably it denotes a maritime warrior of the type that either commenced invasions of Britain in the fifth century or were invited as mercenaries in the political and military vacuum created with the final departure of Roman troops. Spelling variations include: Sager, Seegar, Sigar, Segar, Seger, Saker, Sakar and many more.

In Anglo-Saxon England, the name was found in several areas, but predominantly in the northern areas of England (Yorkshire and Lancashire) which were part of the Angle kingdom of Northumbria. (The Angles largely settled in the areas known as East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria in the fifth century. The Angles were the dominant Germanic tribe in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, and gave their name to the English. Originally from Angeln in Schleswig-Holstein, a list of their kings has been preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other sources).

The Domesday Book records a man named Sagar as a Saxon landowner in Devon in 1086. It also records a man called Segarus, no less a latinised version of the name, holding land in Essex at around the same time. By far the largest concentration of the surname Sagar however is found within a 50 km radius in the Lancashire/Yorkshire border area. Old church birth records show relatively moderate numbers of persons with the surname Sagar being born in towns such as Bradford, Halifax and Askrigg in West Yorkshire.

From the 17th century onwards, records show persons with the surname Sagar or similar migrating from Britain or Europe to various parts of the world including North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).

ee also

*List of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) surnames