From the old barony, now the parish of the same name in Lanarkshire. Baldwin de Bigir, who appears as sheriff of Lanark in the reign of Malcolm IV is the first known to bear the territorial designation. Chalmers (i, p. 602,603; III, p. 738) identified him with the Baldwin Flam who appears as witness in a charter of R bishop of St. Andrews, relating to the church of Lohworuora (now Borthwick), c. 1150 (REG., 11), "but for this there is no authority" (OPS., I, p. 134). Between 1147—1160 Balwinus de Digir (Bigir) witnessed the grant by Arnold, Abbot of Kelso, of the lands of Douglas to Theobaldus Flamaticus (Kelso, 107). Sometime after 1170 Baldwin de Bigre, sheriff of Lanark, granted the church of Innyrkvp beyond the moors (ultra mores) to the monks of Paisley (RMP., p. 112). Waldeve, Baldwin's son, was taken prisoner at Alnwick along with King William the Lion in 1174 (Bain, II, p. 117). In 1228 Hugh the son of Robert de Bygris appears in a grant to St. Machute of Lesmahagow, in which he is styled Hugo de Bygris films Roberti filii Waldevi de Bigris (Kelso, 186). Sir Nicolas de Bygir, knight, witnessed a deed dated at Lesmahagow, 1269, and in 1273 appears as "tunc vicecomes de Lanarc" (ibid., 189,334). He died before 1292, when the marriage of Mary his widow, and the ward and marriage of Marjory and Ada his daughters and heirs parceners, were granted by Edward I to Robert, bishop of Glasgow (Rot. Scot., I, p. 14). The lands and honours appear to have passed into possession of the Flemings, earls of Wigtown, through the marriage of one of these daughters, but the surname continued, probably in younger branches. In 1329—30 Sir Henry de Bygar held the offices of royal chaplain, rector of the church of Bygar, and clerk of livery to the king's household (Chamberlains Rolls, I, p. 122—4,168, 192). Walter de Bigare appears as rector of the church of Erole, 1433 (REB., I p. 58), and Thomas Biggar was reader in Kinghorn, 1621 (MCM., II, p. 46).

In Ireland this name may have either of two origins: it can be Lowland Scottish, derived from the place-name Biggar in Lanarkshire; or it can be a curious synonym of MacGivern, a Co. Down family, which for some reason I have not learnt, in some cases in the Newry area changed their name to Biggar and Bickerstaff and in others around Downpatrick became Montgomery. The MacGiverns, of course, are an indigenous Gaelic Irish sept, originally of Co. Tyrone, but before the end of the sixteenth century they were established in Co. Down. The Biggars are in the will indices of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in several Ulster counties; they have a long association with Co. Armagh for one of them, Alexander Biger, appears among the Co. Armagh householders in 1664 while a Biggar and a Bigger are among the large landowners in that county in 1878. Both Francis Joseph Biggar (1863-1927), the historian and antiquarian, and Joseph Bigger M.P. (1828-1890), the originator of parliamentary obstruction, were born in Belfast.

(Scot.-Scand.) 1 Builder. [Scot. biggar; Old Norse byggia, to build] 2 confused with Biggart, q.v. (Celtic) belonging to Biggar (Scotland), 12th cent. Bigir = perh. the Little Land. [Gaelic beag, little + the aspirated form of tir, land]

Normally of Lowland Scottish origin some Biggars and even Bickerstaffs of Co. Down are actually of the sept MacGivern. SIF 16

(1) Place name in Lanarkshire, Scotland. (2) “Builder” in Old English.

(English, Scottish) One who buys, a purchaser; one who came from Biggar (barley field), in Lanarkshire.

A parish in co. Lanark. Also Scottish, a builder.

Local: from the town of Biggar in Lanarkshire.

Local. A town in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Buygar, in Danish, signifies a builder.

(Scotch), Bigger (English), Builder.

A location name in Lanarks [Biggins] A location name in Derbyshire.