This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the ridge,' from residence on the rig or back of a hill; compare Bridge and Brigg. In North Lancashire and Cumberland Rigg is a very familiar surname, almost as common as Fell; v. Riggs.

Thomas de la Rigge, Hampshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

John de Legh del Rigge, 1437: Earwaker's East Cheshire.

Edward Rigge, of Hawltshead, 1586: Lancashire Wills at Richmond.

Clement Rigg, of Hawkshead, 1590: ibid.

Robert Rig, of Hawkshead, 1611: ibid.

William Rigg, of Satterthwaite, 1611: Wills at Chester.

1620. Thomas Ridge and Jane Waters: Marriage Lic. (London).

It is not claimed that this is an anglicized form of any Gaelic Irish surname: even if Woulfe is correct in suggesting that it is an attempted translation of Mac Iomaire it is not Gaelic, since, as Woulfe points out, Maclomaire is merely an attempted gaelicization of Montgomery, Nevertheless it is remarkable that Ridge is almost entirely confined to Co. Galway or areas adjacent thereto. I have consulted the birth registrations for several different years in the past century and in every case all the births occurred in Co. Galway, chiefly in Connemara. One is almost forced to the conclusion that this is one of those rare cases where the descendants of one or two settlers so multiplied as to become quite numerous in a comparatively small area in the course of three centuries. This is known to have happened in the case of Gorham in Co. Galway, where, however, it has been for a considerably longer period than Ridge.

John Ridge, presumably an Englishman, was clerk of the council, Connacht Presidency, in 1619.

Strafford's “Inquisition of Co. Mayo” records the purchase in 1652 by a John Ridge “esquire” of a large property in the barony of Kilmaine from Viscount Mayo. In 1641the will of another John Ridge, of Abbeytown, Co. Roscommon, was proved: this is perhaps the same John Ridge who is listed among the Co. Sligo proprietors of 1633-36as an extensive landholder. And yet another John Ridge is recorded in the Dunsandle rentals as lessee in 1689 of 310 acres in the barony of Leitrim, Co. Galway. The name continues to appear in later records but is less prominent after the end of the seventeenth century.

(English) Dweller at a Ridge [Middle English rigge,O.E. hrycg]

More than one English family called Ridge settled in several parts of Connacht from the early seventeenth century; their descendants multiplied and the name is now quite common in Co. Galway and adjacent parts of Roscommon and Mayo. SIF 131

(English) One who came from Ridge, in Hertfordshire; dweller at, or near, a range of hills.

A parish in Herts. Many other minor localities are so called. The medieval form is Atte Rigge, whence Trigg. In the XVI. cent. it was commonly written A'Ridge.

A location name in Devon, Gloucestershire, Salop, Wiltshire.

Ridge: (Anglo-Saxon), generally applied to an old Roman road: Ridgeway; Aldridge, Aldrich—the name At Ridg or At Rigg has become Trigg or Triggs; Beveridge, Kimmeridge, Ashridge.