La Grange

This name, with variant spellings Grainge, Grange, Grangier and Grancher, is of French and English topographic origin for someone who lived near a granary. The derivation is from the Anglo - French 'graunge' itself coming from the Old French 'grange', a granery or barn. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century (see below). One Laurence atte Grange appears in the 1296 'Subsidy Rolls of Sussex' and a Johannes del Grange in the 1379 'Poll Tax Returns Records of Yorkshire'. On October 23rd 1547, Elizabeth Graunge and Rychard Turner were married in St. Margaret's, Westminster. Among the early recordings in Kent is the marriage of Mary La Grange and Anthony de Lassell, on May 8th 1673 at St. Mary the Virgin, Dover. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de la Graunge, which was dated 1275, 'The Hundred Rolls of Essex', during the reign of King Edward 1, 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272 - 1307. 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.