This name, with variant spellings Grange, Grangier and Grancher, is of French and English topographic origin for someone who lived near a granary. The derivation is from the Anglo - French "graunge" itself coming from the Olde French "grange", a granery or barn. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Laurence atte Grange appears in the 1296 'Subsidy Rolls of Sussex" and a Johannes del Grange in the 1379 'Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire". On October 23rd 1547 Elizabeth Graunge and Rychard Turner were married in St. Margaret's, Westminster, and on January 13th 1566 Grace Grainge and Paul Rytche were married in London. Cristopher Grainge and Alice Gregorie were married in St. Mary at Hill, London, on February 12th 1592. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de la Graunge, which was dated 1275, in the "Hundred Rolls of Essex", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.