This interesting surname of English origin is a locational name from a place so called in Cheshire, deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name Cyna, a short from of the various compound names with the first element "cyne" meaning "Royal", or, Cena, a byname meaning "Keon", "Bold" or a short form of various compound personal names with this first element plus the Old English pre 7th Century "worthing" "enclosure". The surname dates back to the late 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one William de Kenworthey, The Subsidy Rolls of Cheshire 1389. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Kinworthy, Kenworthey etc.. James, son of Thomas Kenworthy, was christened on May 21st 1654, at Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire, and Sarah, daughter of Thomas Kenworthy, was christened in Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire on March 16th 1655. One Thomas Kenworthy, together with his wife Ann and daughter Mary who were famine emigrants, sailed aboard the Roscius from Liverpool bound for New York on October 12th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Kenworthey, which was dated 1276, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cheshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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