English place-based surname meaning a settlement by a ridge, later used as a modern surname-style given name.
Rigsby is an English surname that crossed into given-name usage, belonging to the rich tradition of topographic and habitative names that the Norman administration stamped across Britain after 1066. It derives from Old Norse 'hryggr' (ridge) combined with 'bý' (settlement or farm), effectively meaning 'the farm on the ridge' — a practical, geographical description that became the family identifier for those who lived there.
Several small hamlets bearing the Rigsby name once dotted Lincolnshire, anchoring it firmly in the English East Midlands. As a surname, Rigsby gained its most vivid cultural life through the beloved British sitcom Fawlty Towers-era television — specifically Rupert Rigsby, the scheming, sardonic landlord of ITV's Rising Damp (1974–1978), played masterfully by Leonard Rossiter. The character made 'Rigsby' a household word across Britain, synonymous with a certain threadbare gentility and comic pomposity.
More recently, Patrick Jane's laconic colleague Wayne Rigsby in the US drama The Mentalist brought the name to American ears, giving it a capable, quietly heroic quality. As a given name, Rigsby is genuinely rare — still largely a surname — but it sits comfortably in the company of names like Beckett, Emerson, and Fletcher that parents reach for when they want something with English heritage and a slightly literary, distinctive edge.