BURGIN
Burgh and the suffix ingas, meaning “people of”, are Old English terms that form the linguistic basis of the surname Burgin. In medieval usage the name described a person living by a fort or fortified town, and by the 16th century it was a common locational surname in England.
The earliest known record of the name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, when a man named Walter Burgoin was granted land in Devonshire. Subsequent medieval documents maintain a variety of spellings: Burgoin, Burgoyne, Burgan, Burgen, Burgin, Burgwin, Burgwyn and Burgyn. In Scotland a reference is found to Robert Burgonensis in 1128, accused of rapacity by monks on St. Serf’s island, Loch Leven. London tax registers of 1319 list Adam de Burgoine, while parish records record baptisms of Edward Burgin in 1665 and Thomas Burgwyn in 1781.
During the Norman Conquest in 1066, followers of Duke William of Normandy brought a number of families with the Norman-French nickname Bourguignon, meaning “from Burgundy”. The name was adopted in England in connection with the Villa of Burgundii, a pre‑5th century Gaulish tribe that settled in the area now known as Burgundy in France. This Norman influence produced an additional stream of the surname, which in some branches came to be spelled Burgoyne, a form most famously borne by General John Burgoyne, who surrendered to George Washington at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.
In England the surname survives in various forms. Modern statistics show that there are roughly 6,300 bearers of the name in the United Kingdom, with the highest frequency in the East Midlands, especially in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. A smaller number are found in the United States; the surname ranks as the 5,858th most common, with a concentration in Florida. The name is also present, though less frequently, in Germany and within global Jewish communities, reflecting the broader Germanic or Yiddish roots of the prefix burg, meaning “castle”.
Variants of the surname have arisen over centuries because of regional dialects, phonetic spelling, and migration. These include Burgon, Burgan, Burgone, Burgen, Bergen, Borgin, Bourgin, and the German Bürge. While these forms share a common linguistic heritage, detailed genealogical research—including surname lineage documents and DNA testing—remains the most reliable method for establishing any precise familial connections between them.
Typical given names associated with the Burgin surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- John
- Mark
- Matthew
- Michael
- Paul
- Philip
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Alison
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Karen
- Lisa
- Louise
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Burgin in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname Burgin are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Bourbon.
There are approximately 2,875 people named Burgin in the UK. That makes it roughly the 3,102nd most common surname in Britain. Around 44 in a million people in Britain are named Burgin.
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Burgin
- Victor Burgin - Photographer
- Ted Burgin - Football player (1927 to 2019)
- Leslie Burgin - Politician (1887 to 1945)
- Andy Burgin - Football player
- Eric Burgin - Cricketer; football player (1924 to 2012)
- Mona Burgin - Teacher and member of Girl Guiding movement (1903 to 1985)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.