This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from Wingrave in Buckinghamshire, deriving from a contracted form of the Olde English pre 7th Century "Wihthuningas" meaning people of Wihthum, a personal name composed of the elements "wiht" meaning creature, and "hun" bearcub, plus the Olde English "graf", grove. The placename is recorded as "Wit(h)ungraue" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Wiungraua" in the Pipe Rolls of 1163. During the Middle Ages when it was increasingly common for people to migrate from their birthplace to seek work further afield, the custom developed that they would adopt the placename as a means of identification. Buckinghamshire Church Records include the christenings of Anne Wingrave, on September 18th 1575 in Stewkley, and Alice, daughter of Richard Wingrove, on November 12th 1598 in Bledlow. A Coat of Arms granted to a Wingrove family is silver, a black chevron embattled between three red mullets. The Crest is a phoenix proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Wingrove, which was dated October 28th 1540, marriage to Jane Burnam, in Waddersdon, Buckinghamshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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