Riggin likely comes from an English surname, possibly linked to ridge or a diminutive of Richard.
Riggin is a rare and distinctly modern given name, most likely derived from the maritime term *rigging*—the complex system of ropes, chains, and cables that support a sailing vessel's masts and control its sails. The word entered Middle English from Old Norse *rígja* ('to bind') via Low German nautical vocabulary, and it entered the common lexicon as a mark of the seafaring cultures that shaped the North Atlantic world. A rigger was a skilled tradesperson, someone who understood tension and balance at the highest level, and the surname Riggins developed from that occupational identity.
As a given name, Riggin follows the well-worn American path of transforming evocative surnames and occupational words into first names—a tradition that has given us names like Cooper, Fletcher, Tanner, and Hunter. The surname Riggins gained brief cultural visibility through characters in American film and television, most notably a football-related context, but Riggin as a given name remains genuinely uncommon, appearing most often in families that prize nautical heritage or simply respond to the name's strong, hard-edged sonic profile. What Riggin offers phonetically is a taut, one-two punch: the hard *R* opening followed by the double consonant creates a name that sounds decisive and grounded.
It occupies an interesting space between rugged occupational names and the softer *-in* ending popular in contemporary American naming. For parents seeking something masculine and unusual without venturing into complete invention, Riggin threads that needle with a name that feels anchored in history even as it breaks new ground.