Also recorded as Kitman, Kittman, Kittiman and Kitteman, this unusual job descriptive name is a variant form of the Old English pre 10th Century "cycene" which translates as one employed in charge of a monastery kitchen. To this was added at choice the suffix "Man or Mann", implying an official worker. In later post 1066 descriptions the suffix "er" was more usually employed as in "Kitchener", although the most popular surname is in the pure form as "Kitchen". The name development is very varied, the changes reflecting a combination of dialect and clerical mistakes examples include William Kitchingman of Yorkshire in 1583, whilst in the reduced form Scipio Kilman is recorded at St. Martin's in the Fields, Westminster on July 30th 1704. In Victoria times it is recorded both at Kittman (1856), and Ketteman, Henry Ketteman being a christening witness at St. Andrews, Holborn on June 25th 1837. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Kychynman, which was dated 1379, in the "Poll Tax Rolls of Yorkshire", during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. 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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