Wigmore

This is an interesting name of English origin and is locational from a place so called in Hereford, situated ten miles from Leominster. The derivation is either from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'wicga', a creeping insect, or in this case, in the sense of 'something moving', and 'mor', a marsh, or moor; or alternatively, from the Welsh 'gwig mawe', a big wood or glade. The earliest recordings of this place name are found in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Wig(h)emore' and in the Pipe Rolls of Hereford in 1165, as 'Wiggemora' and is listed in the National Biography. This name is recorded as early as the 17th Century in America, as it is known that one Elias Wiggmore, aged twenty four years, sailed in the 'George Jo' from Graves end to Virginia on 26th August 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard de Wigmore, which was dated 1239, Church of St. Peter, Gloucester, during the reign of King Henry III, 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.