[ Home ] [ Limitations on research ] [ Limitations on Research 1990 ] [ Principal research problems: ] [ Acknowledgments ] [ Acknowledgements 1990 ] [ The family name ] [ Early Wigods &c ] [ Early Wigods in the SW 1990 &c ] [ Other early Wigods &c ] [ Other early Wigods 1990 &c ] [ Early relationships in the South-West ] [ The Devon/Somerset Relationship ] [ Early Somerset relationships ] [ Relationships with Wigods &c ] [ Relationships with Wigods &c. in other parts ] [ Population ] [ Population 1990 ] [ Migration ] [ The migration from Langford Budville and neighbouring rural parishes. ] [ Emigration ] [ Marriage irregularities &c ] [ St. Catherine's House Indexes ] [ Birth dates ] [ Dates generally ] [ Tiley ] [ Accuracy ] [ Distribution ] [ Abbreviations ] [ Map of SW England ] [ The Waygoods of Somerset - Addendum of March 1993 ] [ Section1a ] [ Section1b ] [ Section1c ] [ Section1d ] [ Section1e ] [ Notes on individuals- Section 1 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 16 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 17 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 18 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 19 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 20 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 21 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 22 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 23 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 24 ] [ Notes on Individuals Section 25 ] [ Consolidated list of poorly identified Waygoods ] [ Notes 1990 Section 1 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 2 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 3 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 4 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 5 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 6 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 7 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 8 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 9 ] [ 1990 Section 10 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 11 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 12 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 13 ] [ Notes 1990 Section 14 ] [ Appendix A. (1990) ] [ The Waygoods of Somerset - Update of March 1993 ] [ Coverage of 1990 version ]

The family name.

 

Harrison's 'Surnames of the United Kingdom' shows Waygood to be derived from what it calls the Anglo-Saxon Wigod, meaning War God - for some at least of later Wigods war seems to have been abandoned in favour of religion. There is no reference to Waygood or Weygood in P.H. Reaney's 'Dictionary of British Sur­names', and modern versions of Wigod/Wigot are said to be Wiggett, Wicket, Wickett and Wicketts.

 

It appears that in Somerset (only) the Harrison theory of evolution prevailed, and it is virtually cer­tain that all existing Waygoods by birth had their origins there; in contrast apparent descendants of a very early Portland, Dorset, Wygod, seem to have followed the Reaney line and become Wiggatts &c.

 

Wigod itself is said to derive from the Scandinavian (old-Danish/old Swedish) Vigot ('Pre-Conquest Personal Names of the Domesday Book', Olof von Feilitzen, Uppsala, 1937) - according to son Feilitzen no fewer than seventeen of the twenty howecarles (bodyguards) of Edward the Confessor mentioned in the Domesday Book bore Scandinavian names.

 

The name Wigod and variants occur in England (Southern counties mainly) until around 1500; Wigwood/ Wygwood surfaces later in Somerset and Devon, with the central 'w' apparently silent in pronunciation, thus:

 

Richard -       baptisms of children, Crewkerne, 1574 and 1586, as Wigood and Wygwood respectively;

Julian(e) -      died 1609, Crewkerne, Archdeaconry calendar of wills shows Wigwood, burial register Wygood;

John -            died 1661, Langford Budville, buried as Wigwood, Protestation Rolls and calendar of wills show Wiggood.

 

According to parish registers, with the exception of one Wiggood (1717) all children born of Wigwood parents in Langford Budville and Milverton were baptized, from 1715, in Waygood/Weygood names, which before that time had taken-over, in Dorset, from the earlier Weagood/Wegood/Whegood variants. Surprisingly Wigwood re­appeared in 1841, in the recorded emigration of two males baptized in Langford Budville in 1819. The Weygood alternative persisted into the 20th century, but is probably no longer in use.

 

In many early cases the parties concerned will have been unable to read or write, and it must have been left to whoever recorded baptisms, marriages, burials and other events, to do the best they could with the spel­ling of names given verbally; the following are a fairly representative sample of variants not already mentioned, from an overall total approaching thirty: Wadgood, Waggood, Waygood, Wedgood, Weegood, Weekwood, Weygod, Whygood, Wyget.