This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the bug,' i.e. the hobgoblin, the scarecrow; Middle English bugge. (2) Personal, 'the son of Bugge'. The early entries seem to prove conclusively that it is not local; there is no local prefix to any of them. Probably (1) is the correct origin. The sobriquet would be a most natural one; v. Bug.

Bate Bugge, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

William Bugge, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Osberne Bugge, Oxfordshire, ibid.

John Bugg, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Willelmus Bugge, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Robertus Bugg, 1379: ibid.

Johannes Bugg, 1379: ibid.

Edmund Bugg, Close Rolls, 1 Henry IV.

1548. Baptised — John Bugge: St. Michael, Cornhill.

John Bugg, March 30, 1592: Cal. State Papers (Domestic).

1781. Married — Henry Arnres and Mary Bugg: St. George, Hanover Square.

(Teutonic) the common Anglo-Saxon pers. name Buga, Bugga = O.Ger. Bugo, Buggo [apparently conn. with Old English búgan, to stoop, bend] (Celtic) Hobgoblin, Spectre (a nick­name) [Middle English bugge, Welsh bwg] William Bugge.—Hundred Rolls

(English, German) Descendant of Buga or Bugga (to stoop); descendant of Burgio, a pet form of names beginning with Burg (castle), as Burgmar and Burcward.

Tom Hood has said —

From the Old Norse, Bui (Mod. Icl. Bogi); from the Swedish, Bugge, Boije; from the Danish, Bugge, Boye; from the Frisian, Boyo, Boye, Boy; from the German, Böger, Böck, Büge, Bugge, Buke, Bühr, Böer, Böhr, Boy; from the French, Bougy, Bugué; from the Flemish, Boes, Boen, Bour, Bues; from the Dutch, Boh, Boggia, Bowen, Boijenk, Boeg, Büger, Bugers, Buggers, Boeje, Buijs, Buys; personal name Bougy; a location name in Normandy. Bushy on Roll of Battell Abbey. in the Domesday Book, De Buci and Bugg, tenants in chief (Nottinghamshire). Boi, Boia, Bou, Bu, Buge, Bugo, Saxon tenants. W. Bugge in Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, King John

The family of Bugg, of the vicinity of Sherborne, have probably an ancestor in John Bugge, who owned land in West Tyneham some time in the 16th century (H.). Both Bugg and Bugge were not uncommon names in Oxfordshire in the reign of Edward I. (H. R.); and Lower suggests, with the great probability of his surmise being correct, that this name is a form of the Saxon names Bucge and Bogue. This explanation is also advanced by Ferguson in his "Surnames as a Science." He refers to Anglo - Saxon landholders named Buga and Bugga, and tells us that these names, together with Bucge, are also ancient German names. In fact, at the present day we find Bugge as a surname both in Germany and Scandinavia. To return, however, to the English representatives of the name, we learn from Deering's "Nottingham," that in the reign of Mary I., the Bugges, as Merchants of the Staple, were persons of considerable note in the town of Nottingham. The Rev. H. Bugg was incumbent of Bleasby, Notts, in 1751.