Kimpton

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from either of two places thus called. Kimpton in Hampshire was recorded as "Chementune" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and as "Keminton" in the 1167 Pipe Rolls, and the place in Hertfordshire was recorded as "Kamintone" in the Domesday Book and as "Cuminton" in the 1198 Feet of Fines. Both placenames share the same meaning and derivation, which is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Cyma" (a short form of "Cynemaer", composed of the elements "cyne", royal, with "maer", fame), and "tun", enclosure, settlement; hence "Cyma's enclosure". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Recordings of the surname from Hertfordshire Church Registers include: the christening of Cutbertus, son of Wilhelmi Kimpton, on September 9th 1547, at Stevenage; the marriage of William Kimpton and Elizabeth Sleape on November 14th 1559, at Hertingfordbury; and the marriage of Edmund Kimpton and Elizabeth Whitt, on October 14th 1566, at All Saints and Saint John, Hertford. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas de Kymynton, which was dated 1327, in the "Exchequer Lay Subsidy for Somerset", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.