Tolkien's Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion lead directly to Perren and Gygax's minis-battles fantasy supplement, Dwarves in Chainmail (see Chainmail 3rd Ed, p. 28, and the later designer's notes article). Also, Gygax and Arneson made much use of this in the games which would later become D&D.
Tolkien claimed inspiration from the Norse and Anglo-Saxon dwarves, but admitted to changing them substantially. Terry Brooks (Shanarra Series), Poul Anderson, and several other authors specifically draw from Tolkien's presentation of the race of Dwarves.
A number of games specifically move away from Tolkien; Some make them short Norse, some make them otherwise different (like the Mostal of Glorantha, or the Shtuntee of Orkworld), and later D&D dwarves are drifted from Tolkien's model as well.
Most games follow the D&D pseudo-Tolkienian model. Most modern authors do so as well; Tolkien has been noted as stating he intended to create a saga for the English Speaking World; by most accounts, he's succeeded.
His vision of Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits/Halflings, Trolls, Orcs, and Goblins have become the English cultural norm; only Elfquest has given much challenge to this superiority, tho' the medieval English and French fairy elf views still have some traction, especially since they have much place in another still widely held cultural myth: King Arthur.
According to Wikipedia, the name was given by Napoleon to the Grenadiers à Pied de la Garde Impériale. "They were the most experienced and brave infantrymen in the Guard, some veterans having served in over 20 campaigns. To join the Grenadiers, a recruit had to have been under the colours for at least 10 years, have received a citation for bravery, be literate and be over 178 cm tall."
Makes sense that it would be applied to crusty gamer misanthropes by the nerds at SPI.
Best Answer
In AD&D, there were dual-wielding rules in 1e (1977) but they were not specifically identified with rangers. A high Dexterity did mitigate the associated penalties, however, meaning that characters otherwise concentrating on a high Dexterity, like rangers and rogues, were natural fits for the style. In 2e (1989), rangers got the class ability to avoid the usual -2/-4 dual wielding penalties.
Aragorn, one of the major fictional inspirations for the ranger, did double wield at least once in the Lord of the Rings (at Weathertop), but it wasn't a major part of his deal. Many other historical figures dual wielded including Davy Crockett and other pioneers that commonly fought Indian style with tomahawk and knife, which has some clear ranger analogues. I remember being inspired re: dual wielding by Madmartigan in Willow (1988) but that's too late to drive the 2e rules.
Much of the shift seems to be game mechanic driven. Not being as armored or as hard-hitting as the fighter, the ranger needed something to boost them mechanically, and dual wielding was chosen due to the alignment with high-Dex.
But What About The Drizzle?
Those who weren't around at the time seem to think that this ranger ability stemmed from the fictional exploits of Drizzt Do'Urden in several Forgotten Realms novels. Drizzt the famous double wielding drow ranger was published in 1988 after being made up on the spot in 1987, really too late to affect the course of the 2e rules. Besides, in 1e drow could (debatably in some circles) double wield; his ability to do so is this more about his drow-itude than being a ranger. Not that he was much of a ranger either, his character sheet on wizards.com says Ftr10/Bbn1/Rgr5.
David "Zeb" Cook, designer of 2e, said when asked where the two-weapon ranger came from,