Killich

Recorded in several spellings including Killick, Killich, Kellicke, and Kyllyk, this interesting and unusual surname is of English origins. It is believed to be locational and to derive from a now "lost" medieval village in the south east of England called Kellick or Killick, or possibly in a few cases from Kildwick, near the town of Skipton, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. This village recorded variously as "Childeuuic" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Kildewicke" in the Episcopal Registers of Yorkshire in 1267, derives its name from the Olde English pre 7th Century "cilda", literally meaning child", but used as a title for a youth of noble birth. To this has been added the suffix "wic" meaning specifically a dairy farm, but more generally to describe a remote settlement. The lost village believed to have been in the county of Surrey, near Reigate, shares the same meaning and derivation. The first known namebearer (below) directed in his will that candles be lit for him in the churches of Nutfield and Bletchingley, Surrey, whilst John Killick was parish constable of Bletchingley in the year 1450. Later recordings include Margaret Kellicke and Richard Banyster who were married at Reigate, Surrey, on August 15th 1539, whilst on October 23rd 1558, William Killick married Elizabeth Hyllare at Merstham, also Surrey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is possibly that of John Kyllyk, a vintner of London, whose will appeared in the London Wills Records in 1437. This was during the reign of King Henry V1 of England, 1422 - 1461. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.