Recorded in many spellings and many countries including the forms Azema and Azemar (Provencal), Aumari (Tuscany), and Ailmer, Aylmer, and Elmer (English), this surname is of English origin. It derives from the pre 7th Century personal name "Aethelmaer", a compound of the elements "aethel", meaning noble, and "maer", famous. The name appears regularly in the famous Domesday Book of England for 1086, whilst Godwinus Elmari was noted in the Winton Rolls of Hampshire, dated 1115, and Ailmerus le Bercher in the Curia Regis Rolls of Hertfordshire in 1212. Other early examples of the surname include: Roger Ailmar of Warwickshire, in 1221, and Adam Aylmer of Cambridgeshire in 1273. In 1353, John Aylmere was rector of Ingworth, Norfolk, whilst John Aylmer (1521 - 1594) was tutor to Lady Jane Grey, and bishop of London (1577). The Aylmer family of County Kildare, settled in Ireland after the Anglo-Norman Invasion of 1170. The first recorded spelling of the family name anywhere in the world is that of Henry Ailmer. This was dated 1208, in the "Curia Regis rolls of Berkshire, during the reign of King John, 1199 - 1216. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.