Gorringe family Information

This name is of English locational origin from Goring in Oxfordshire or Sussex. Recorded as Garinges in the Domesday Book of 1086 for the above counties, the name means "(Place) of Gara's people" from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name Gara containing the elements "gar" a spear, plus "ing" translating variously as "people of" or "dwellers at ". The surname from the latter source is first recorded towards the end of the 12th Century. One Priorissa de Goringe appears in the "Hundred Rolls of Oxford" and a Philip Goring in the "Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire", dated 1273. George Goring (1583 - 1663) negotiated the marriage of Prince Charles with Henrietta Marie of France circa 1623 and became her master of the horse and Baron Goring in 1628. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey de (of) Garinges, which was dated 1192, in the "Pipe Rolls of Sussex", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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.