This interesting and long-established surname is of
medieval English origin, and derives from the Anglo-
Scandinavian male
given name "Ingald" or "Ingold", ultimately from the Old Swedish "Ingaeld", Old Norse "Ingialdr", a
compound of the elements "ing", swelling, protuberance (also the name of a minor Norse god associated with fertility), plus "gialdr", a tribute; hence, "Ing's tribute". "Ingold" (without surname) is recorded in the
Domesday Book of 1086 for Yorkshire, and the
Latinized form "Ingoldus" appears in the
Chartulary of the
Monastery of Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, dated 1114. This personal name also forms the first element of the Lincolnshire placenames: Ingoldmells and Ingoldsby, and Ingoldisthorpe in Norfolk. The surname first appears on record in the latter part of the 13th Century (see below). In 1312, one Peter Ingold was noted in the
Calendar of Letter Books for the City of London. In the modern idiom the name has six spelling variations: Ingall, Inggall, Ingold, Ingle, Ingles and Hingle. On August 9th 1584, Agnes Ingold and John Tomson were married at St. Michael's Bassishaw, London, and on December 1st 1631, the marriage of Walter Ingold to Margaret Rotheram took place at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edmund Ingold, which was dated 1273, in the "
Hundred Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "
The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1327. 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.