Recorded as Wingar, Winger, Wyngar, and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is not as may be thought, a description of a sporting person, but a direct derivative of the pre 7th century personal compound name Wine-gar. This translates as 'Friend - spear' which may seem unusual to modern eyes, but in the pre Christian days was one of many similar names which extolled the virtues of war, counsel, power and military prowess. It is claimed that the name was originally from East Anglia, where there was a medieval village called Winger, although if so, this place seems to have totally disappeared. The name is also found in the Derbyshire village of Wingerworth, or Winger's wood, near the town of Chesterfield. The name development has included Winger (as a personal name) at the abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, in the year 1182, whilst William Wyneger appears in the tax rolls for the county of Suffolk for 1327. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry Wyngar. This was dated 1251, in the register of the abbey of Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, and during the reign of King Henry IIIrd of England, 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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