Wintringham - Name

Recorded in a number of spellings including Wentringham, Winteringham, and Wintringham, this is an English locational surname. It originates either from the village of Wintringham in the county of Lincolnshire, or from the similiarly named Winteringham in Huntingdonshire. According to Ekwalls famous dictionary 'English Place Names', both villages have the same meaning of "the home (ham) of the Wintra people (ing)". Of late a large number of Ekwalls pronouncements have been called into question as new evidence has emerged, but in this case he is almost certainly correct. The Lincolnshire village is first recorded as Wingtringeham in the Domesday Book of 1086, the Huntingdonshire village is not recorded until circa 1260 in the reign of King Henry 11, 1154 - 1189. Whilst both villages may have provided nameholders, the balance of evidence suggests that most nameholders, however spelt, originate from the Lincoln area. Early examples of developments of the surname taken from authentic surviving church registers of the post medieval period include: John Wentringham, recorded in the Lincoln Cathedral register in 1690, and the possible variant of John Whentmean, who married at Christ Church, Stepney, London, in 1791. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Robert Wyntrygham. This was in 1562 when he married Mariam Gorrell at Gawby, near Lincoln. This marriage took place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth Ist, known as 'Good Queen Bess', 1558 - 1603. 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.