What is the etymology of the surname, "Diggs"?

Beware of coat of arms peddler. You will be furnished a link to a coat of arms.

There are no laws in the United States regarding heraldry and there are companies all over the U.S. that will sell you one based solely on your surname. I understand some will do "research" and 'link" you to an individual that was granted a coat of arms. That is not valid.

A person is free to display one without documented proof that they are entitled to it but is is like putting up a picture of a famous person with their surname and claiming him as their direct ancestor whether they know he is or not.

Not everyone with the same surname comes from the same root.

I am aggravated to see that you have gotten SEVERAL RELIABLE answers... and people have come in and rated them bad. Mind boggling.

First of all (and this may not be what you want to hear).. the meaning of a name is NOT always accurate or factual. Sorry... years of experience researching is what this is based on, and what others also have found. Surnames evolved anywhere from the 1300s to the 1600s, and there are very seldom existing records to back up any one "origin" of a name. It is completely plausible that several men who "took" that name, were in different places at different times... and none of them are necessarily related to each other.

What does matter is how YOU came by the name, and where that PERSON came from. I know that Digges/Diggs is a early family name in colonial Virginia. And there is no evidence that several of those guys are brothers, or otherwise related. To the best of my knowledge, they probably came from England. Assuming you are in the US, you may be descended from one of these, but that will take research of your specific lineage. Or.. you MIGHT descend from another Diggs line completely, one who came over in 1850.

The fact is that whoever "told" you it was Irish, might have been working on a family tradition.. and one that is possibly inaccurate. Family traditions are notorious for being misleading, and it may be that you are beating your head on a brick wall, looking for a source that is non existant. If you want to verify the reality, it will take actual basic research. No short cut for you here, sorry.

I don't care either. If I like a name then I am going to use it. I have all my names for my kids planned out already and all my girls first names are considered surnames. I love them. The ones I have chosen are unique and I think they are great. I've always wanted to go the less girly and more rare and unique route when naming my kids. I'm sure if I posted on here what they were then I would get a lot of extremely rude comments on them and that's why I tend to not answer questions on here (and in person) asking "what are your favorite names?". We are all different and love different types of naming styles. Some people just love trendy names and spellings, some love old-fashioned names, and some love unisex or less girly names on girls (me!). That's just me and I wish people would respect that. A couple of friends asked me a while ago what my favorite names were. I gave them a few girl names and one boy name off my list and they laughed and laughed about it and told me how horrible they were and basically made me feel like crap. To this day, they have never let me live it down. They basically said 'what kind of names are those? Those aren't names!'. They also told me their fav. names and I personally didn't care for any of them and I could have laughed right back at them, but I didn't. They just didn't appreciate another individual's preference for names, like many on Y!A. Anyways, sorry I got a little off topic. But I understand where you're coming from.

Perhaps it's the descendants of Digby O'Dell the friendly undertaker. The only way you can ever be sure of the origins of your ancestor is the oldfashioned way, genealogy research back generation by generation. What a name 'means' isn't necessarily important, it's an identifier.

Quite a few of your kindred cousins discuss the Diggs family on Genforum. You might consider joining them and finding out all sorts of wonderful information about your family.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/diggs/

BTW, one researcher on there shares that her family name evolved from an ancestor's nickname:

"[My] Diggs Line goes back as far as I have it to Roger de Mi;ldenhall His son began to be called John, but called Dig and the name evolved to Diggs"

For more information on the surname and to possibly connect with relatives, I would suggest the Diggs genealogy message boards at:

http://genforum.genealogy.com/diggs/

AND

http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.diggs/mb.ashx

Good luck,

Dave

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http://www.familypulse.org/

Have a look at the link posted below'http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=Diggs hope this helps you.