Enga

Recorded in many spellings including Eng, Enga, Engh, and Engman, as well as being a component part of compounds such as Engberg, Englund, and Engstrom, this is as Scandanavian surname, but essentially Swedish. It originates from the word 'ang' used in ancient times before the 10th century a.d. to denote a water meadow, and is therefore residential for a person who lived by such a place. The name is now more popular in its 'ornamental' forms, as a result of initiatives by the Swedish government in the 19th century to broaden the surname base from the patronymics such as Alfredsen and Jansen which contributed almost all the surnames. As a result the ornamental names were chosen from elements of the countryside, 'Eng' being one of the most popular. Early examples taken from surviving records are few, as before the 19th century names were not usually hereditary and more or less fixed in their spellings, in the way that they have been in England since at least the 13th century. These recordings include Johannes Eng, who married Karin Olofsdr at Undesvik, Sweden, on October 29th 1769, and Karen Eng who married Henrich Gille at Garnisons Sogh, Kobenhaven, on April 30th 1826.