Scroggins
A surname that likely developed as a patronymic form of Scoggin/Scogin, with some early confusion from similar-looking names like Scroggs.
The #3,732 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,517 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-supported explanation is that Scroggins is a patronymic surname built on Scoggin or Scogin, with the final -s marking “son of” or belonging to the family of. One historical source also suggests that an intrusive -r- may have helped shape the spelling toward Scroggins. The deeper origin of Scogin/Scoggin itself is less certain and may involve an old nickname or personal name.
History
The name is relatively uncommon and appears in English surname tradition alongside similar forms such as Scroggs and Scoggins. Early scholarship treated it as a developed family-name form rather than a surname with an obvious occupation or place-name meaning. In the United States it survives as a minor but established surname, with modest modern bearers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1914 surname study specifically noted Scroggins as probably a later, reshaped form of Scoggin rather than an entirely separate name.
From the historical record
“It disappears in Fanny (Frances) and Biddy (Bridget), but intrudes itself in the scruff, formerly scuft, of the neck, and probably in Scroggins (p. in). 2 Cf. Vialls from Vitalis, a saint's name. 3 Names of this class were no doubt also sometimes given to foundlings.”
— The Romance of Names