Just the Facts

• It is entirely possible (unless you know different) that the original Vango immigrant to England was, in fact, a van Gogh. If, as has been surmised, our distant fore-father was a Flemish Huguenot weaver fleeing the Catholic persecution in Europe in the late 17^th century, then it is entirely possible that the present spelling arose from the phonetic writing down of the name in parish records, etc. The first record of a Vango that I have found in the IGI is of Isaac Vango who married Martha Short on 20^th May 1711 at Saint Dunstan's, Stepney (where my own parent's were married 243 years later).

• Occasional I am told by family members that they have heard that the Vango family originated in Czechoslovakia - possibly as Gypsies. I think that the basis for this is that there is a very similar surname, Vanco, which seems to originate in the Slovak village of Drahovce. I have given this considerable thought but, on balance, I believe that the Flemish Huguenot weavers theory has more credence.  My reasons for this are that the Vango's seem to have been weavers for around 150 years after they first crop up (there is no evidence that Drahovce has had any weaving connections in the past (it seems to have been a small village around the turn of the 16^th/17^th centuries); the timing is also about right for the Huguenot influx and, further, I am led to believe that the pronunciation of the name Vanco is "Wancho", so it is unlikely to have been anglicised to it's present spelling. I would be very interested in hearing any stories or theories anyone else might have on the origin of our family name.

• I have it from several sources that the correct way to spell our surname is Vangô. The accent is known as a circumflex and is usually used to lengthen - and sometimes stress - the vowel (except in French, where it indicates an 'S' has been removed, as in hôtel = hostel and hôpital = hospital). All of the Vangos I know pronounce the 'o' as a short vowel, but, perhaps, it should be pronounced long - much as the Americans pronounce Vincent van Gogh's surname - vango^ow.  I was reminded of this while going through my father's notes. I found one from a Rose Vango (living in Addlestone, near Weybridge in February 1987) in which Rose states that there is evidence in the British museum that the family is, indeed, descended from Huguenots and that the name should be written as Vangô. Does anyone know what this evidence might be?

• From the files of the ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY BRONZE MEDALS CITATIONS (taken from the annual report of 1909) I have found a reference to one Edward Vango (Case 37042). It records that "on the 4^th September 1909, a boat was swamped on the Thames at Barnes, throwing two men into the water, which was about 20 feet deep at that point. Vango went in and supported one man till a boat came, the other man being drowned." Does anyone know who this valiant Vango was? STOP-PRESS (23.03.02) - Bruce Williamson in New Zealand has written to me saying that he remembers, as a child, being told that his grand-uncle, Edward, had saved a man from drowning and that it involved jumping off London Bridge. Edward was the brother of Bruce's grand-mother, Emma Ellen Vango, and my great-grandfather, William Henry Vango. Bruce added that he was told that Edward saved peoples' lives on two separate occasions. Mystery solved.

• Romford, Essex - A parachute mine on the evening of 8th December 1940 exploded at ten-past-eleven, landing directly on the blacksmith's shop of Mr. S H BUSH, behind the shops at the corner of South Street and the High Street. Two people lost their lives: twenty-seven year old Percy Alfred VANGO (of 10 Wheatsheaf Road) in South Street, and forty-two year old Edward FLEMING in the telephone exchange. Percy had a wife, Rosella Vango. There is a Record of Commemoration on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website to Percy

• I have at last found my copy of a news-cutting about James Vango (circa 1935) who's father wove the silk for Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress. See the Images page!

• There can't be many people involved in outdoor pursuits who don't know the name of VANGO, the Scottish based tent and outdoor clothing manufacturer.  I spoke to the MD of Vango Ltd. some 20 years ago to obtain some info on a tent. He was amazed when he took my name. He didn't believe that there could be anyone with the surname Vango. He explained that the company took it's name originally from an anagram of it's location - Govan!

• I have been in touch with Vango, Paris. They are internationally renown producers of some superb women's fashion clothing. A very kind person there tells me that the origin of their name is the amalgam of the names of their two originators "mr Vanryb et mr Goldman. Tout simplement".

• V.A.N.G.O. is the Vanuatu Association of Non Governmental Organizations which promotes sustainable development in the country, Vanuatu, a group of 83 islands in the South West Pacific.

• The word "vango" appears to be a greeting, welcoming someone into your home in Sri Lanka. I quote: "There are many ways to articulate the expression of welcome used to beckon guests into one's house. You can say "vAngO" using inflections signifying joy in receiving them as in "vAngO,vAngO .... VAngO". Contrariwise, by simply extending the second syallable in the word one can easily convey the opposite of welcome to the guest by saying "VAAAngO". Combined with the use of appropriate "body-language" to convey the message, one can indeed use the change in inflection of the voice to devastating effect when using this particular word !"

• The Esperanto word "vango" means cheek.

• There seems to be a number of restaurants in the USA bearing the name of Vango. Vango's Pizza and Cocktail Lounge, Marquette Michigan ("Vango" is the nickname of the co-owner and founder Clark Lambros' father, whose full real name was Vangelis Lambropopoulos).  .....

• There is a municipal transport system, administered by the Charles County Department of Community Services, Maryland in the USA called VanGO. There's also a transport service called VanGo for disabled persons in Coconino County, Arizona. Another VanGo in Maryland Heights, Missouri for senior and disabled residents. Napa, California, Conejo,   . In California there is a company called VanGo which states: We're simply better than first class. We are artists, we are… VanGo "The Art of Transportation" (Phew!). There's an executive transport company in New York called VanGo Transportation Inc. I could go on ... and on .... and on ......

• errrr.... should I bore you with the choreography of the line-dance VAN GO, set to the strains of Van Morrison's "Precious Time"?

• The Okavango in Africa is a river in northwestern Botswana disappears into a 6,000-square-mile maze of lagoons, channels, and islands (the river that never finds the sea). The name is thought to come from a Namibian dialect meaning "that which lies to the left".

• The Americans favour pronouncing Vincent van Gogh's surname as Vango rather than the English pronunciation of Van-Goff or Van-Gock. I have even come across his name being spelled the same as ours.