This interesting surname of English origin with variant spellings Limmer, Limer, Lymer, Lymar, Lemmer, etc. derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Leodmaer" meaning "people-famous" or "Leofmaer" "dear-famous". The personal name is recorded as Lefmer, Leodmar, Ledmaer, Leomar, Lemer in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as Robertus filius Lemmer, Lefmer (1203-1204) in "The Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire". The surname dates back to the early 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Agnes Limer (1273) "The Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire, and William Lemmer (1332) "The Subsidy Rolls of Sussex". It may also be a locational name being a dialectal variant of Limber in Lincolnshire, meaning "Lime-tree hill", from the Old English "lind" "lime-tree". Recordings of the surname from this source include one Thomas de Limer, bailiff of Norwich (1245) "The Feet of Fines of Norwich". Church recordings include one John Leonard, son of John and Ann Lemmar, who was christened on August 28th 1695, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, and William Berkeley Lemmer married Charlotte Gallimore on August 6th 1873 at St. Lukes, Chelsea. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Lemmer, which was dated 1221, in the "Cambridgeshire County Records", 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.

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