Lennox

Recorded as Lennox and Lenox, this famous surname is Scottish. It is and originates from a district near Dumbarton now called Lennox, but originally recorded as "Leuenaichs" in 1174, and as "Levanaux" the following year. The name derives from the Old Gaelic "leamhan" meaning "elm", and the locational suffix "ach", i.e., "of the elm(field)". The surname is first recorded at the beginning of the 15th Century (see below), and one John de Lenox witnessed the sale of a tenement in Glasgow in 1428, and in 1543, George Lennox was deputy bailie of the Earl of Cassilis at Glenluce. Matthew Steward (1516 - 1571), Keeper of Dumbarton Castle, 1531, bore the title of fourth Earl of Lennox. Charles, the natural son of Charles 11 by Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, was created Duke of Lennox in the peerage of Scotland at the age of 3 yrs. (1675). His only son, Charles (1701 - 1750), succeeded to the Dukedom of Aubigny in France in 1734, and held the threefold title, Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John of Levenax, the Duke of Albany's man, which was dated 1400, he was granted a safe conduct overland to England, during the reign of King Robert 111 of Scotland, 1390 - 1406. 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.