This unusual name comes from the Olde Norse personal name "ing(a)" and is a short form of several compound names with "Ing" as the initial element i.e., Ingall, Ingle(s), Ingold etc.. The elements "Ing" was the name of a Norse God associated with fertility and may be from a Germanic root meaning "swelling". A placename "Inga" was originally recorded in the Domesday Book of Essex 1066 - 1086, but this most likely came from those Norse invaders bearing the personal name "Ing(a)". In the modern idiom spelling variations include Inge, Ings and Indge (all surnames). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Inge (who first used the name as a surname), which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire", during the reign of 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.

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