Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Aldringeham 1290 Ch

• Altringeham 1397 ChRR

• Aldryngeham 1444 Pat

• Altringham 1309 InqAqd

• Aldringham 1318 Ch 1550 MinAcct

• Altryngham 1385 Pat

• Alteryngham 1549 Pat

• Alteringham c.1703 Chol

• Altrincham, Altryncham 1321,1348 Plea

• le Altrincham 1400 Pat

• Altyrncham 1434 ChRR

• Altringcham 1547 Pat

• Altryncheham 1326 Cl

• Alterkham, Altrikham, Altricham 1353 MinAcct, Indict

• Altrycham 1435 AD

• Alterchame 1559 Orm2

• At(t)ringham 1549 Pat

Etymology

This may be 'the village of Aldhere's people'. The first el. is the OE  pers.n. Aldhere . The final el. is hām 'a homestead, a village'. The medial el. may be -inga -, gen. of -ingas , 'the people of–'. However, Altrincham and Kermincham, Tushingham, Warmingham and Wincham 281, 327, 262, 136infra , with Iddinshall, Codingeheye , Dane-in-Shaw 326, 326, 296infra and Benchill 1240, all belong to a class of p.ns. discussed in PN-ing 170– 172 exhibiting the Birmingham-'Brummadgem' phenomenon, a palatalized and assibilated medial -ing - (cf. Wa 34– 36), supposed to be variants of -inga - compounds with the alternative *-ingia - form discussed in PN-ing 170 ff, PN-ing 169 ff, EPN 1 298 s.v. -ingas . In BNF NF 2 221– 45, 325– 96, NF 3 141– 189, it is pointed out that the origin of such name- forms could be the composition of an -ing 2 formation with a further el. Altrincham would then be OE  *Aldheringe -hām , in which *Aldheringe means 'at the place (called) Aldhering (i.e. named after Aldhere )', in which the -ing contained palatalized OE ġ , later assibilated ğ , from a PrOE, PrGerm loc.sg. *-ingi . The effect of this, is to suggest that the assibilated -inğ - in this kind of p.n. is a toponymic variant of the -ing- function of the OE  -ing suffix. The interchange of (-iŋəm) and (-inʒəm) pronunciations and their spellings in p.ns. like Altrincham and Birmingham would represent, in some instances, analogical reformations to the pattern of the -inga - type of p.n., and in others, a reflection of the parallel alternation in many p.ns. in -ing where a folk-name in -ingas and a related p.n. in - ing 2 are evidenced in use side by side (cf. PN-ing 213), e.g. Hailing K (PN- ing 12, K 116, KPN 75, DEPN), Badlingham C (PN-ing 128, C 190, this having the gen.sg. -inges of -ing 2 in a genitival composition).Instances of parallel -ingas , -inga - and -ing forms represented by ME  -inges , -ing (e ), and of the confusion, in compounds, of the -inge dat. (locative) form of -ing2 with -ing- or the uninflected form of -ing 2 , appear in Mongeham K (PN-ing 120, K 569, DEPN), Chyngton Sx (PN-ing 32, Sx 364, EPNS xi addenda xli), Bengeworth Wo (Wo 95, PN-ing 173, DEPN). Wincham 136infra has alternative forms of p.n., one where hām is compounded with the gen.sg. of a pers.n., another where it is suffixed to an -ing - formation upon the pers.n. in which an -ing 2 form has the attributive or possessive value of the -ing- function.