This interesting surname has two possible origins. Firstly, it is of English locational origin from "Ingham", in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, as Ingeham, Hincham and Ingham respectively. The name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Inga", originally the name of a minor Norse God associated with fertility, plus the element "ham", meaning homestead; hence "Inga's homestead". One Roger de Ingham, is registered in St. Benet of Holme, Norfolk (1162-1168). The surname may also be a nickname for a crafty or ingenious person, deriving from the Old French "engaingne" or the Latin "ingania" meaning trickery or ingenuity. In the Domesday Book William Ingania is recorded in Huntingdonshire and William Inganie in Northamptonshire. On September 5th 1540, Annis Ingham married Thomas Vause, at St. Martin Orgar and St. Clement Eastcheap, London. John, son of Johis Ingham, was christened on October 23rd 1546, at Halifax, Yorkshire. Thomas Ingham married Mary Nuttall, on July 15th 1559, in Rothwell, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alwinus de Ingham, which was dated 1049, Old English Byname register for Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Edward the Confessor, 1042 - 1066. 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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