Wagg Family History

English:: apparently a nickname from the Middle English verb waggen (Old English wagian) ‘to shake, tremble, stagger, waver, or vacillate’ or ‘to move (something) to and fro, up and down (etc.)’. The name may be an elliptical form of longer nicknames involving this verb; see Waple and Wagstaff.

Alternatively, Wagge may have been a nickname with the sense ‘mischievous boy’ which is not recorded until the mid 16th century but was probably in colloquial use considerably earlier.

Topographic name from Middle English wagge ‘marsh, quaking bog’, a word found only in placenames related to the verb waggen ‘to move or shake’.