Northern English: from Middle English fogge ‘aftermath’, i.e. grass left to grow after the hay has been cut, also applied to long grass in a water meadow. The surname arose from either a topographic name or a metonymic occupational name for someone who grazed cattle on such grass in the winter. The vocabulary word, which is probably of Old Norse origin, is still in use as a dialect term in Craven, Yorkshire, and in eastern Lancashire. Modern English fog ‘thick mist’ is first attested in the 16th century and is unlikely to be the source for a surname.