Bolger Family History

English: occupational name for a leather worker, from Middle English, Old French boulgier, an agent derivative of Old French boulge ‘leather bag’, ‘wallet’ (Middle English bulge). Irish (South Leinster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Bolguidhir ‘descendant of Bolgodhar’, a personal name composed of the elements bolg ‘belly’ + odhar ‘yellow’, ‘sallow’. Perhaps an altered spelling of German Bohlinger or Bolinger.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press