Rigsby
A habitational surname from a Lincolnshire place-name, originally meaning “ridge farm” or “farm on the ridge.”
The #4,941 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,339 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rigsby is a habitational surname from the place called Rigsby in Lincolnshire. The name is generally explained from Old Norse elements: hryggr, meaning “ridge” or “back,” plus by, meaning “farm” or “settlement,” giving the sense “ridge farm” or “ridge settlement.” Older scholarship also treated the first element as a nickname or personal-name form based on the idea of a ridge or humped back, but the place-name explanation is the main one for the surname.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval forms such as de Ryggesby and de Rigsby, showing that it was used by people identified by their home village. Because Lincolnshire and much of eastern England had strong Scandinavian place-name influence, Rigsby fits a broad pattern of Norse-based local surnames in the region. Later spelling simplification produced the modern form Rigsby.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old Norse by element found here turns up in many English place-names ending in -by, especially in areas of former Scandinavian settlement.
From the historical record
“RIGSBY (Scand.) Bel. to Rigsby (Lines), 13th cent. i?j'^«i9',Domesday^ig'M6« [Here the common O.N. hrygg-r (Dan.-Norw. ryg), a ridge, back(bone, seems to be used as a pers. or nick-name; it may be a shortening of hrygg-biug-r, crook-backed, or hrygg- kn^tt-r, humpbacked : on account of the -s genitive the name…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)