A German surname, Yager comes from the Old German term ’jagen’ which refers to hunting. Variations in spelling Yager include Jaegger, Jagger, Jaeger, Jaeggers, Jagers, Jaegers and Jeger. Northern England is where many of the Yager families have lived on the centuries, mostly in Northumberland, Durham and Lancashire. Within the United States the early Yager settlers were in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and later moved into Ohio, Texas and California. Famous: Richard Sidney Yager (a cartoonist), Henry Yager (a professional footballer rules judge in Australia), Anne Judson Yager (movie film actress), William Overall Yager (Civil War commander for Yager’s Third Battalion Texas Mounted Volunteers) and Jamie Yager (professional mixed martial artists performer).