This interesting name, with variant spellings Kippen, Kippin, Kipping and Keepin, has two distinct possible origins, the first being Anglo-Saxon, from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname "Cypping", a derivative of the Germanic root "kupp", to be swollen, and originally given as a nickname to one of rotund appearance. One Alwinus filius (son of) Cheping was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Berkshire, and a Mafrei Filius Kipping was recorded in the 1170 Pipe Rolls of Northumberland. The surname from this source had emerged by the end of the 12th Century (see below), and in 1591, Herman Kyppyn married Faith Ethridge in London. The second possibility is that the name is of Scottish locational origin from Kippen, a village near Sterling. Locational surnames were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. Thomas Kippen, from Machanie, was recorded in Documents relating to the Abbey of Inchaffray, Scotland (1630), and on October 21st 1824, Horatio Neilson Kippen was christened in St. Ninians, Stirlingshire. The family Coat of Arms is on a silver shield a purple saltire within a bordure engrailed, the Crest being an eagle, wings expanded, issuing out of tower all proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Kipping, which was dated 1195, in the "Pipe Rolls of Warwickshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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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