This name is of English locational origin from a place in the North Riding of Yorkshire thus called. The first element is believed to be the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name Cylla, plus "ing", people of, and the Olde Norse "bekkr", a stream, hence "the stream settlement of Cylla's people". The surname form this source is particularly well recorded in church registers of Halifax and Leeds from the mid 16th Century, (see below). On July 6th 1572 Agnes, daughter of Robert Kyllingbecke, was christened in St. Peter's, Leeds and on August 4th 1573 Elizabeth Killingbeck and Thomas Robinson were married in the above church. One of the earliest recordings of the name in London was the marriage of Richard Killingbeck and Jane Hall in St. Nicholas Acons on June 19th 1581. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anna Killyngbeck married Richard Best, which was dated July 2nd 1559 in Halifax, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.

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