Recorded in the English spellings of Mainwaring, Manwaring, and Mannering, this famous surname, having long associations both with Ireland and the English county of Cheshire, is of Norman French origin. It is a habitation name from a now "lost" place, of uncertain location, originally called "Masnil Warin", or the domain of Warin. This was a male given name which has also produced the surname of Waring. It is is derived from a pre 7th century Germanic word "warin", meaning guard. Early examples of the surname recordings in England include the christening of Ralph Manwaring in 1155, whose father was, interestingly, recorded as "Roger de Masnilwaring" in the same Warmingham (Cheshire) register. The marriage of Ralph Mainwaring to Amicia de Kevelioc was also noted in Warmingham in the year 1179, and the birth of Roger, son of William Manwaring, was registered at Over by Middlewich, in 1263. Several early variations on the name appear in nearby counties and include: Ralph de Maisnilwarin of Lincolnshire in 1185; and Robert de Meynwareing of Derbyshire, in 1273. Roger Manwaring or Maynwaring (1590 - 1653), D.D. All Souls College, Oxford, was bishop of St. David's, 1635, and Chaplain to King Charles 1st 1625 - 1649). The surname is also well recorded in Ireland where it appears in several other forms including Marrinan, Marname, Murname, and Mannering. Some of these are anglicizations of the Gaelic O' Manarain, meaning 'the descendant of the sea god', whilst others are descendants of the Norman knight Roger de Masnilwaring in 1170.William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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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