Trigg
An English surname most likely from an old Norse personal name meaning “true” or “faithful,” though some records also connect it with a place-name.
The #8,985 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 84,774 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest explanation links Trigg to the Old Norse personal name Tryggvi / Trygg, from Old Norse trygg-r, meaning “true,” “faithful,” or “trustworthy.” In medieval English records the name appears in shortened forms like Trig-, which fits this Scandinavian personal-name origin. Some older writers also connected the surname with a local place-name such as Ridge, so a secondary local origin has been suggested in parts of the historical literature.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval and early modern England, especially in forms like Trig and Triggs. Nineteenth-century surname scholars often treated it as a northern personal-name surname rather than a straightforward place-name. It remains relatively uncommon today but is still found in England and, through emigration, in countries such as the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Old Norse root underlies the name of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason, whose father was called Tryggvi.
From the historical record
“TRICKEY =Trigg (q.v.) + the E. dim. suff. -y. TRIGG l(Scand.) the Norw. Trygg, O.N. TRIGGE i Tryggui=iheTKiiSTi, True [O.N. trygg-r] A Tryggui was, of course, the father of King Olaf Trygguason (Olafr konungr Trygguason) of the sagas. The form in our I3th-i4th cent, records was Trig- and”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)