This is an English locational surname. Perhaps not entirely surprisingly there are in England many places called Kingsland, in the counties of Sussex, Middlesex, Essex, and Herefordshire, and the placename is also encountered in Wales and Ireland. Originally the name would have referred to places directly owned by the monarchy. However it was in the county of Kent in South East England that the surname was first recorded witrh Matthew de Kyngeslond appearing in the Hundred Rolls for that county in the year 1273. Locational surnames were usually "from" names, and as such were given to people after they left their original homes to move elsewhere. It was then seven hundred years ago, and to some extent it still remains so, that the easiest way to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, lead to the development of "sounds like" spellings. Examples of the ongoing surname recordings include: James Kingsland at the church of st James Clerkenwell, city of London, in 1596, and Thomas Kingsland who married Elizabeth Worham at the same church in 1711.

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