Wenger

Recorded in several forms including Wengen, Wenger, Wenglin, Wenglein, and Wengert, this is a surname of Germanic origins. It is locational or sometimes topographical and derives from the pre 7th century Olde Norse word "weng" meaning a sloping meadow. There are numerous places called either Weng or Wengen in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, which have given rise to the surname. Locational surnames by their nature tend to be "from" names. That is to say surnames given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. This could be the next village or some far away city, but in either case the easiest way to identify a "stranger" was to call him, or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best indifferent and local accents very thick, often gave rise to the development of variant or "sounds like" spellings of the surname. In this case early examples of the name recordings taken from surviving rolls and charters of the medieval period include: Fredericus de Weng of Bayern in 1278, Cristian der Wenglin zu Wengen, in 1424, and Hans Wenger of Immenstadt in 1451.