Family name origins & meanings
- English : from the Old Norse personal name Þorgils, composed of the name of the Norse god of thunder, Þorr + gils ‘hostage’, ‘pledge’. However, the inorganic initial s- is not easily explained; it may be the result of Old French influence.
- Edward Sturgis of England settled in Charlestown in 1634 and moved to Yarmouth, MA, in 1638. His descendants included a revolutionary war soldier and Cape Cod shipmaster, and a Massachusetts legislator.