This unusual name is of English locational origin, from the place called "Dagworth" in Suffolk. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Dagaworda" and by 1166 as "Daggewurtha". The meaning is "Daegga's homestead", from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Daegga", a short form of names such as "Daegheard", plus "worth", meaning an enclosure and specifically an enclosure round a homestead. The addition of "y" to the placename to form a surname was a common practice, with other examples such as Langworth(y) and Kenworth(y). One "John Dagwothy" was married to "Margarett Potter" on the 28th January 1605 at St. Katherine by the Tower, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Dagworth. which was dated 1257, The Fines Court Records, Norfolk. during the reign of King Henry III, The Frenchman, 1216 - 1272. 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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