Gummer

This unusual and interesting name has two possible origins. The first of which is from the Middle English personal name "Godmer", which is a combination of two older personal names; the Old English pre 7th Century "Godmaer" and the Old Norman French "Godmar". Both of these names are composed of the Germanic elements "god", good, or "god", god, with "meri, mari", famous. The surname from this source can be found as Gomer, Goymer and Gummer. The second possible origin is as a variant form of Guymer, Gymer, and Guynemer, an early pre 6th century personal name adapted from the Old German and An glo-Saxon "Win mar". Composed of the elements "win", meaning friend, and "mar", celebrated or famous, as a personal name it was recorded in Yorkshire in 1204 as Guimer. Early church redcordings include the christening of Francis Goymer at West Hanningfield, in the county of Essex, on September 19th 1565, and John Gummer at the church of St Bartholomew the Less in the city of London on July 21st 1659. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Guymer. This was dated 1277, in the Hundred Rolls of Suffolk, during the reign of King Edward 1st, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.