This interesting name is of English origin and is locational from a place so called in North Yorkshire, which is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Bag(h)ebi', in the Yorkshire Charter Rolls, circa 1160 as 'Baggaby', and in the 'Index to the Charters and Rolls in the British Museum' circa 1199 as 'Baggebi'. The derivation is from an Old Norse, Danish and Swedish personal name 'Baggi' with the Old English pre 7th Century or Old Scandinavian 'by', a homestead, a common second element in the parts of England where Scandinavians settled. Amongst the early sample recordings in London and Yorkshire, are the christenings of Henry Bagby on April 5th 1640 at St. John's, Hackney, and in Kirkby Fleetham, Yorkshire, of William Bagby on August 21st 1692. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Bagbie (witness), which was dated September 25th 1597, St. Giles, Cripplegate, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, 'Good Queen Bess', 1558-1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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