Do you know anything about the Ginger history?
I am taking a class in genealogy and this is one of the recommended websites to use does any one know any thing about the history of the Ginger surname. If you know anything about the Pratt Surname that would be awesome too.
on 2014-01-03 15:16:41
Rocker0897 has been a Family Tree Circles member since Jan 2014.
Answers
hello Rocker0897,
welcome to Family Tree Circles
this ancestry.com site Ginger Family History has:
Ginger Name Meaning German: habitational name for someone from Gingen or Giengen in W?rttemberg.English: from Middle English gingivere, gyngure, gingere ?ginger?, hence a metonymic occupational name for a dealer in spices, or possibly a nickname for someone with reddish hair or a fiery temperament.
this surname database Last name: Ginger has:
This is a rare but ancient English surname. There are at least three possible origins, all nicknames. Firstly it could be an ethnic nickname for a red haired person, and given by the Olde English or Welsh who were (are) darker haired and dark complexioned, to an invading Anglo-Saxon, or secondly it could be a name given to a hot tempered person, or thirdly it could describe a spice merchant. It is not clear from the early recordings as to which category applied except that the first recording of all, that of Roger Gingiure in the Assize Rolls of Gloucester in 1221, may well suggest a 'hot blooded' individual, but on the other hand William Gyngeur recorded in the county rolls of Essex in 1262, was called upon to pay more tax, his name appearing in the famous tax registers called the 'Feet of Fines'. This suggests that he was a wealthy individual, probably a merchant. The first recording in the 'modern' spelling was that of Roger Ginger in the register of the monastery of St Thomas in Staffordshire in the year 1280. This was probably a reference to a 'red head', if only because it is unlikely that either of the other origins would apply.
a discussion back in 1998 origin of surname Ginger
Thank you very much this should help with my class!