This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is derived from a Northern English locational place so called in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The component elements in the name are the Olde English pre 7th Century "sucga", a sparrow, or the personal byname "Sucga", plus the Olde English "denn", (swine) pasture. The reference here is either to pasture land which was a favourite haunt of sparrows, or to swine pastures owned by one called Sucga. The surname was first recorded in the mid 14th Century (see below). One Robertus de Sugden and a Willelmus Sugden appear in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire. On May 25th 1556, Marye Sugden, an infant, was christened in St. Mary's, Woolnoth, London, and on July 28th of that year Elsabet Sugden was christened in Halifax, Yorkshire. Edward Burtenshaw Sugden (1781 - 1875), was Lord Chancellor and Baron of St. Leonard's, 1852; he published a learned edition of Gilbert's, "Law of Uses and Trusts", and several other legal papers which early made his reputation. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Sugden, which was dated 1362, in the "Register of the Freemen of the City of York", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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