Rumgay

This most interesting name with variant spellings Rumgie, Rungay, Rumgey etc., is of Scottish locational origin from "Rumgay", also called "Rumgally", a seat (place of abode, especially a large country mansion), two and a half miles East of Dupar in Fifeshire, hence the name is widespread in the Fife area. During the Middle Ages, when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Hence, placenames were one of the main factors in surname formation. The earliest recordings of the name date from the mid 17th Century (see below) in the Fifeshire Church Registers. One Margaret Rumgay was christened on May 7th 1643 at Kilconquhar, Fife while here also John Rumgay married Lilias Smart on May 13th 1645. James Rumgay married Jane Miller at St. Anne, Soho, Westminster, London on June 25th 1796. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John and Margaret Rumgay, which was dated February 28th 1639, christening witness, at Kilconquhar, Fifeshire, during the reign of King Charles 1st, known as "The Martyr", 1625 - 1649. 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.