Dunge

This name, with variant spellings Dungey, Dungee and Dunguy, is of English locational origin from a place in Kent called Dunge (or Denge). Recorded as Denge in the 1292 Assize Court Rolls of that county the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'dene', a valley, plus 'ge', a district, hence, 'the valley district'. The surname is well recorded in church registers of London and Kent from the late 17th Century, (see below). On April 20th 1777 Andrew Dungey and Mary Boorman were married in Cranbrook, Kent, and on May 26th 1783 Stephen Dunguy married a Frances Webb in Kingston, Kent. The marriage of Mary Ann Dungay and Alfred Richardson was recorded in St. James' Church, Westminster, London, on January 21st 1817. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jane Dungay married Bernard Bligh, which was dated May 17th 1681 in St. James' Duke's Place, London, during the reign of King Charles II, The Merry Monarch, 1660 - 1685. 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.