An English and French surname, Sargent comes from the Latin term ‘serviens’ and the Old French term ‘sergent’ which meant to serve as a servant. The spelling variations for Sargent include Sarguent, Sargant, Sargaunt, Seareant and Sarjeant. In England the original Sargent families settled in Buckingham region. From there they spread into the southeast and southwest regions. The Sargent families also went into Yorkshire and Lancashire counties. In Scotland the Sargent surname was from the northern end in Ross & Cromarty to the central area with Aberdeenshire and south to Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Midlothian counties. Within the United States the early Sargent families lived in Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, California, Vermont, Maine and Iowa. Famous: Dick Sargent (television actor), Mitchell Sargent (rugby player from Australia), Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (English philharmonic orchestra conductor), Henry Winthrop Sargent (19th century landscape artist developing landscape architecture), Pamela Sargent (science fiction writer), John Singer Sargent (portrait artist), Ben Sargent (newspaper political cartoonist), Dwight E. Sargent (journalist), George Sargent (professional English golfer), John Sargent (professional boxer) and Henry Sargent (19th century artist).