Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Ingeham c1115 1146 LS 1191 RAi 1203 P 1204,1206 Ass 1206 P 1209,1220 ChR 1219 P 1219 FF 1223 Welles 1226 Cur 1229 FF 1231 Ch 1298 Welles 1310,1325 Ipm

• Ingaham 1163 RAi

• Yngeham 1180,1192 P 1202 Ass 1210–12 RBE

• Hingeham 1194,1195 P 1196 ChancR 1197,1198,1119 P 1224 FF

• Ingheham c1115 LS Hy3 Dane eHy3 HarlCh

• Ingham Hy2 Dane lHy2 1199 CurR l12,c1200 Dane 1203 Abbr 1203 Ass 1203,1205 Cur 1219 Ass 1242 HarlCh 1242–43 Fees 1253 Pap 1254 ValNor 1256 Ch 1291 Ass 1272 QW 1281 Ch 1292 Tax 1291 RAiii c1300

• Yngham a1183,1256 FF 1501 Ipm 1536–37 Dugdvi

• Hingham p1169 Dane 1185 Templar 1191,1193,1194 P 1227 ClR 1165,1172 Ass

Etymology

This name has been traditionally interpreted as 'the homestead, the estate of Inga' from the OE  pers.n. Inga and OE  hām 'a homestead, an estate'. Dr Insley points out that an OE  Inga is not certainly attested and the Inga recorded as the name of a moneyer of Æthelstan could be an anglicised form of the Scand  ingi . Karl Inge Sandred, “Ingham in East Anglia: a New Interpretation”, Leeds Studies in English , New Series xviii, 1987, argues cogently that Ingham in Nf (as also in L and Sf) is rather an ancient cultic p.n. OE  *Ing (a )hām , from Germanic *Ingwiahaima - 'the homestead, the estate of the devotees of the deity Ing'.According to Sandred the first el. of Ingham would then be a term for the Anglian king as a member of the Ingwionic dynasty, the name denoting a royal estate, v. further Ingham PN Nf 2, 110. Dr Insley suggests that the Inghams could rather be estates in the possession of early cultic associations.