Inger

This interesting and unusual name is of Old Scandinavian origin, and derives from the Old Norse personal name "Ingvarr", in Old Danish and Old Swedish "Ingvar", composed of the elements "ing", originally the name of a minor Norse god associated with fertility, and "varr", guard. As a personal name, "Inger" is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Ingeuuar", and "Imgarus", and it was still in use as a given name at the end of the 15th Century, as in the Records of the Corpus Christi Guild of York of 1472, which list one Ingre Jonson. The modern surname may be found as Inger, Inker (mainly in Somerset), and in the patronymic form Ingerson, 'son of Ingr'. The marriage of Ellen Inger and Henry Humfry was recorded in London in 1589. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Inger, which was dated 1255, in the "Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.