Recorded as Engelfield, Ingerfield and Ingarfield, this is an ancient English surname. It is locational from the village of Englefield Green in Surrey or Englefield in the county of Berkshire. The place names are derived from the Old English pre 7th century personal name "Ingweald", composed of the elements "Ing", the name of a minor Norse god associated with fertility; and the Old English "weald", meaning rule. The suffix is derived from the Old English "feld", meaning not a field in the modern sense of the word, but a large area of ground cleared for pasture, thus giving a meaning of "Ingweald's pasture". The placename in Surrey was first recorded as "Hingefelda" in the Saxon Chartularies of 967 a.d., and hence is one of the oldest of all recorded place names. Amongst the recordings in the diocese of Greater London is that of the marriage of Edward Ingarfield and Ann Coats on July 3rd 1791 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, and the christening of David Ingerfield, on May 15th 1810 at St. Marylebone. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hansculfde Englefield. This was dated 1079, in Englefield, Berkshire, during the reign of King William 1st, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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