This is a dialectually transposed locational name from a place in Germany called Fang. The name means "place where game is found". In England the name is first recorded as Fange towards the middle of the 17th Century. An alternative spelling Fangs also appears. Fenge is an early 19th Century variation. On April 11 1819, one, Conrad Fenge, son of Adam and Sarah Fenge was christened in Saint Dunstan's Church, Stepney, East London. the assimilation of foreign names into English produced some interesting examples of almost total identity loss as is the case with the present day spelling of Fang. The name presumably was originally given to an immigrant into England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ann Fange married a Robart Hodgkin. which was dated 22 June 1648, St. Peter-le-Poer Church, London. during the reign of King Charles I, The Martyr, 1625 - 1649. 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.