Recorded in a number of spellings including Coomer, Coomar and the rare Flemish-Dutch Koomar, this interesting name is generally of medieval English origins. It is a genitive form of the locational or topographical name Combe, Coomb, Coome, Coumbe, and Coombes, and describes a person who was resident or perhaps worked at, any of the numerous places named from Old English pre 7th century word "cumb". This originally described a short, straight valley. There are a large number of such places in England, mostly spelled Combe, and generally found in the south and west of the country, in the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire and Surrey. Examples of the early recordings taken from surviving charters and church registers include Richard de la Cumbe of Sussex in the year 1194, John Comber also of Sussex in the Subsidy Rolls of 1296, and in Devonshire the marriage of Mary Ann Coomber and John Pasmore on November 5th 1778, at Chittlehampton, and the christening of Philip Coombere on October 22nd 1780, at Stoke Fleming. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Combere. This was dated 1260, in the Assize Rolls of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.