Sager
Most likely an English occupational surname meaning “sawyer,” though some families may also descend from a shortened form of Seager.
The #3,390 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,290 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is commonly explained from a dialect word meaning “sawyer,” linked to Old English saga, “saw,” and related Scandinavian forms. In that sense, Sager would have described someone who worked with a saw or in timber-cutting. Some 19th-century writers also thought it could be a shortened or related form of Seager, so more than one route into the surname is possible.
History
Bardsley and Harrison both treat Sager/Sagar as an occupational name, especially in northern English speech. The name appears in historical English records and has also been compared with Scandinavian forms, which fits the strong cross-Channel and northern English overlap in the word family. In modern times it survives as a relatively uncommon surname in the English-speaking world, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers explicitly connected the name with the work of a sawyer, showing how closely medieval surnames could track everyday trades.
From the historical record
“SAGAR \ (Scand. and N.Eng.) Sawyer [sager SAGER 1 is a North, dial, word, f. sage (g hard), a saw — O.N. sag, sog = O.E. saga : cp. Ger. sager, sawyer] (Teut.) v. Segar, Segep'. Cp. Sayer. Sage”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)