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origin
This Olde English name has two possible derivations, the first being from the Breton personal name "Wincon" or "Uuicon" which was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066. The name means "worthy" and "high", or "noble". The second origin is from another personal name, this time of Germanic origin and also introduced by the Normans, "Wigant", meaning "Warrior", from the verb "Wigan", to fight. The personal name is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Wighen" and in 1163 as "Wigein". The surname development has included "Wygen" (1297, Cornwall) and "Wiggans" or "Wiggins (1752, Yorkshire). "Woiggins" is the patronymic form of the name, meaning "son of" and the name can also be found as "Wigan", "Wigand", "Wigin" and "Wiggin". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Wygeyn, which was dated 1275, in the Norfolk Hundred Rolls, during the reign of King Edward l, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.