Delmage - Name

This interesting and unusual surname is of French origin and is the Anglicization of Elmarche, itself a locational name from the Province of Marche in France. Marche is an Old Frankish term for a boundary or frontier, from the Anglo-Norman French "marche". Delmage may also be a topographical name for a person who lived on the border between the two territories. This name is not recorded in England before the mid 19th Century. During the Middle Ages as people began to travel more widely, it became customary to adopt the placename as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Mary Elizabeth Delmage was christened on May 31st 1837 at St. Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, London and Louisa Jane Delmage was born on September 16th 1874 at Newington, Kent. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adelmode De la Marche, which was dated 1055, Limoges, Hant-Vienne, France, during the reign of King Henry 1 of France, 1031 - 1060. 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.