This interesting name is locational from places so called in Cheshire and Lancashire. The derivation is from the Welsh "ynys", which means an island, water meadow and the name is very apt for Ince in Cheshire which forms with Elton an island in the low-lying country on the Mersey. The spelling, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, is Inise, developing through Ines and Ynes to its present day form. During the Middle Ages, when many people migrated from their homes to seek work, they adopted the names of their former village as a means of identification. Two early recordings of the name in Cheshire are of one Anne Ince who was christened at Nantwich on the 6th April 1579 and one William Ince who married Jane Maddock on 21st June 1583 also at Nantwich. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Ince, which was dated 1401, witness in the "Assize Rolls, Lancashire", during the reign of King Henry 1V, known as "Henry of Bolingbroke", 1399 - 1413. 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.

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