The Budge name was registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies in November 2022. The study was launched, in part, to gain a better understanding of the Budge branch of my late mother’s side of the family. However, what ultimately triggered the study was increasing frustration regarding the many theories concerning the origin of the Budge surname (see below). There seem to be two distinct populations of people with the Budge name in the UK: a Cornwall/Devon population in South West England and a Caithness/Orkney population in the North East of Scotland. Are they all distantly related or has the Budge name emerged in two quite different locations in the UK at possibly different times in history? This study will attempt to provide some answers to this conundrum.

Although possible variants of the Budge surname include Badge, Bouch, Buche, Bugg, Buge, de Buge, Budde, Budke, Bodkin, and even Butike, some of these names are so speculative that only the Budge name will be explored in this study.

There are multiple theories regarding the origin of the Budge name:

1. The most common theory regarding the origin of the Budge surname is that it evolved from a nickname, which derived from the Old French word bouche meaning mouth. This became bouge in Middle English and later budge (Reaney and Wilson, 2006). The nickname would have been given to a person with a large mouth or perhaps someone who was garrulous or gluttonous. The main weakness of this theory is that it presupposes the Budge surname is English because of the concentrations of Budges in both Cornwall and Devon (Hanks and Lenarčič, 2022). However, it does not explain or take account of the fact that the density of Budges relative to population size is actually greater in North East Scotland and Orkney.
2. The etymology of the Budge name in Scotland is uncertain and there are conflicting narratives about the origin of the name. One states that Budges are associated with Clan Macdonald on the Isle of Skye: "When Angus Og of Islay, who was a friend of Robert the Bruce, married Margaret, daughter of Guy O’Cathlan, an Ulster baron, he received 140 men as her dowry. They received grants of land and became known as Butikes or Budges and formed a small clan [which] settled in Skye" (The Scotsman, 2016). Another narrative claims the Budge surname first appeared in Caithness – "they are descended of the family of Macdonald, and that the first of this family that came to Caithness fled thither for slaughter, and changed his name from Macdonald to Budge" (anonymous manuscript cited by Black, 1946: 112). Why the name Budge was chosen is unclear, but the name is sufficiently well established in Scotland to warrant a wedding tartan registered in the official Scottish Register of Tartans.
3. An alternative theory advanced by Ferguson in English Surnames and Their Place in the Teutonic Family (1858) suggests that the name Budge derives from the Anglo-Saxon boda and Old Norse boði meaning messenger, and may have been a diminutive of the German names, Budde and Budke. Whilst not impossible linguistically (I studied German, linguistics and Old Norse at university), Ferguson’s hypothesis strikes me as a little too speculative. However, it warrants further consideration given the number of Budges in North East Scotland and Orkney's strong Viking heritage.
4. It has also been suggested that Budge derives from the name given to the skin of a newly-born lamb, which was used to adorn cloth (MacBain, 1895). This is not entirely improbable given that the OED (2022) defines budge, among other definitions, as a "kind of fur, consisting of lamb's skin with the wool dressed outwards." In fact, Budge Row and surrounding streets in London were the centre of the fur and skin trade in the fourteenth century (Campbell, 2022).
5. In not dissimilar vein, Hanks and Lenarčič (2022) state that the word budge may also derive from Middle English in relation to "victuals supplied for retainers on a military campaign". They conclude that the surname may therefore have emerged as a metonymic occupational name for a medieval quartermaster. However, sources are not cited so it is difficult to evaluate the merits of this theory.
6. Finally, there is a somewhat unexpected suggestion in A Handbook of the Cornish Language (Jenner, 1904) that the Budge name might actually be Welsh. In a discussion of patronymics, he conjectured that Budge might be a linguistic apocopation (omission of the final sound or sounds of a word) of ab (mab = son) Hodge, meaning son of Hodge. This is an interesting theory, but supporting evidence is thin.

The name Budge, or rather early variants of the name, is first recorded in the late twelfth century in England, and thereafter as follows:

• Ralph Buche 1160–70 Templars (Yorkshire)
• Fegga Buche, Bucca, Bugga 1165–7 Pipe Rolls (Lincolnshire)
• Hugo Buche, Bucca 1199, 13th Cartularium prioratus de Gyseburne (Yorkshire)
• Alexander Buche, Bugge 1221 Assize Rolls (Worcestershire)
• Michael od la Buche 1225 Calendar of Patent Rolls
• Geoffrey Bouche 1226 Feet of Fines (Buckinghamshire)
• John Bouge, Walter Bugge 1327 Subsidy Rolls (Suffolk)
• John Bougge 1327 Subsidy Rolls (Essex)

According to the Chronicles of the Frasers, also known as the Wardlaw manuscript (Fraser, 1905), there were "continued jarres betuixt the Benes and Budges and other clans in Cathnes [sic]" in 1438. However, the first authentic mention of the Budge name in Scotland is in 1440 when Magnus Buge, a churchman appears as canon of Ross in Papal Letters (Black, 1946: 113). In the Commissariot Register of Shetland, a John Budge is recorded in Oxsetter in 1613.

However, there are further instances of the name Budge and its variant Buge in the International Genealogical Index dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries in Orkney and Caithness. Ditto Devon and Cornwall.

More recently, notable Budges include:

• Ann Budge, a businesswoman, who is the owner Heart of Midlothian Football Club and winner of the Edinburgh Award in 2019.
• Brian Robert Budge, a historian, who was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to military history in Orkney in 2018.
• David Budge, frontman of the New York-based rock band Druids of Stonehenge.
• Don Budge (1915-2000), who was an American tennis player who won 10 majors, 6 of which were Grand Slam events.
• Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (1857-1934), who was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist and philologist, and author of many books on Egyptology.
• Grahame Morris Budge (1920-1979), a Scottish rugby player, who played 4 times for Scotland.
• Tom Budge who is an Australian actor, musician and writer.

According to the popular surname website British Surnames, the single variant Budge is the 4,126th most common surname in the UK, which equates to approximately 35 in every million people. This makes it a relatively uncommon surname. In fact, name frequency has reduced as the population has increased. Although prevalence is higher in the USA, name frequency is actually scarcer in contrast to Australia where the name is more common relative to the size of the population.

(1) Source: Consumer Data Research Centre and Urban Dynamics Lab (2023)
(2) Source: Forebears (2023)

Distribution tables for 2014 can be found below. However, only the top 5 densities relative to population size are shown. The maps which follow these show that population densities for bearers of the Budge name were more concentrated in 1881 than 2014. 

Data source for tables: Forebears (2023)