Ingersoll
An English surname probably meaning “Inger’s hall,” from an old personal name plus a word for a hall or manor house.
The #5,449 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 48,332 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as coming from a place-name built from the personal name Inger plus Old English or Norse words for a hall, large house, or manor. The older scholarship in the excerpts glosses it as “Inger’s hall” or “Inger’s palace,” and treats the first element as an old Saxon/Norse personal name rather than a modern given name. The exact form behind the surname is not entirely certain, but the sense is clearly that of a house or settlement associated with someone named Inger.
History
The name is recorded in early English forms such as Inkersole and Hynkebsell, showing how variable medieval spellings could be. One source in the excerpts says the first known emigrant to New England was Richard Inkersall/Ingersoll, who settled in Salem in 1629. The surname later became well established in North America, where it is now more common than in Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century writer thought the surname was connected with a place-name meaning “meadow hall,” while another preferred “Inger’s hall”; both reflect the same old idea of a hall or dwelling tied to a personal name.
From the historical record
“INGE (Gr-)» Home, Enclosure, Meadow. Ingham, Ing's home. INGERSLEBEN, von ((S-)? of Inger's living or dwelling. INGERSOLL (Qc-)^ Ing^i^'s hall or palace. I have never met with the name Inger by itself: but that there is such a Saxon name is evident ; for, besides this and the preceding surname, there are in Germany…”
— SurnamesNotable people named Ingersoll
- Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.