Bogue
A surname of likely Irish and Scottish origin, often linked to a Gaelic name or to a word meaning bent or stooping.
The #9,245 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,687 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bogue is found in both Irish and Scottish contexts, and nineteenth-century writers connected it with Gaelic forms such as Bohig and with older Germanic roots meaning “to bend” or “stoop.” In that broad reading, it may be a nickname for someone with a bent posture, or a form that entered usage through Gaelic adaptation of an older name. The evidence in the historical dictionaries is suggestive rather than final, so the name is best treated as having mixed Celtic and Germanic possibilities.
History
The name appears in Irish surname material and also in Scottish surname lists, which suggests more than one local source or at least more than one line of development. Some older surname dictionaries relate it to variants such as Boag, Bogie, and Boige/Boag-like spellings, showing how fluid the spelling was in earlier records. In the United States today it remains uncommon but established, with a modest concentration likely reflecting British Isles immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes grouped Bogue with a whole cluster of look-alike names—Boag, Bogie, Buggy, and others—because medieval spellings were so variable.
From the historical record
“123 BOGUE. Eoil. 225. Behane. 47,61. [Hiani/I. 40. Boag. Bole. 69.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland