Burge
A surname with several possible English roots, most likely from a place-name or from an older form related to “burh” or “burgh,” meaning a fortified settlement.
The #3,447 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,790 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Burge is usually treated as a shortened or altered form of names built on Old English burh, later Middle English burgh, meaning a fortified place, town, or borough. Some 19th-century surname writers also connect it with local names such as Burghfield, or with forms like Burgh/Burges, while others mention an older byname or baptismal form. The evidence in the historical dictionaries is not perfectly consistent, so the safest explanation is that Burge is an English surname with locational and place-name roots, and possibly some overlap with related surnames such as Burgh, Burges, and Burgess.
History
The name is recorded in medieval and later English documents, with early spellings varying widely. Later surname compilers noted examples in Kent and elsewhere, and also linked Burge to several English place-names containing burh/burgh. It appears in English-speaking countries beyond Britain, including the United States, where it is relatively uncommon but established.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname books sometimes grouped Burge with a whole family of similar names—Burge, Burgh, Burges, Burrage, and Burridge—because spelling was so fluid before modern standardization.
From the historical record
“Burgre, Burdge.— (i) Bapt.* the son of Surge.' Burge Attewater, co. Kent, 1273. A. (a) Local, * at the birch.* John de la Burchge, co. Southampt., 1798. Married— James Jemmett and Elixabeth Burge: St. Geo. Han. Sq.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)