Gomer

This unusual and interesting name has two possible origins, the first of which is from the Middle English personal name "Godmer", which is a combination of two older personal names; the Old English pre 7th Century "Godmaer" and the Old Norman French "Godmar". Both of these names are composed of the Germanic elements "god", good, or "god", god, with "meri, mari", famous. The surname from this source can be found as Gomer, Goymer and Gummer. The second possible origin for the name "Goymer" is as a variant form of "Guymer, Gymer", an early Medieval English personal name adapted from the Old German "Wigmar", composed of the elements "wig", battle, and "meri, mari", famous, recorded in 1204 in Yorkshire as "Guimer". The christening of Francis Goymer was recorded at West Hanningfield, Essex, on September 19th 1565. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Guymer, which was dated 1277, in the "Suffolk Hundred Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.