Tvery rare name is a variant form of the early medieval English "nickname" surname used to refer to someone who conducted himself in a kingly manner, or a person who played the part of a King in a pageant, or to one who had won the title in a contest. Very occasionally it may have been given to someone working in a king's household. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "cyning", the Middle English "king", which came from the Olde English word "cyn(n)", meaning tribe or race, and originally "a tribal leader". The fact that the name King is so widespread in England is probably due to the fact that the pageants were very popular in most towns and villages, and that the "Kings" were proud of their title. The modern surname can be found as Kinge, King, Kingh, Kynge and Kingett. Recordings of this very uncommon variant in Church Registers are scarce, but include the following examples of marriages: John Kingh and Ann Butcher, at Northwood, Hampshire, on April 24th 1654; Frances Kingh and Morgan Clarke, also at Northwood, on June 29th 1654; and Christopher Kinghe and Margaret Passmore, on October 28th 1663, at Butterleigh in Devonshire. The Coat of Arms most associated with the Hampshire family of Kingh is a gold shield, on a blue pale three gold regal crowns; the Crest is an esquire's helmet proper, garnished gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aelwine se Cyung, which was dated 1050 - 1071, in the "Old English Bynames", during the reign of King Edward, known as "The Confessor", 1042 - 1066. 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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