Rennocks

The little village of 'Renwick' eleven miles from Penrith in Cumberland is the origin of this medieval locational name of Olde English pre 10th century origins. The name means 'the farm (wic) of Rann' an abreviated form of the Anglo Saxon 'Randolf'. The name has been subjected to dialectual transposition and distortion owing to the 'slurring' which has led to various spellings such as Rennick and Rennock. The plurality of names often infers a patronymic 'son of' and this maybe the case with this name. The first name holder below was executed as the last Scottish Martyr. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of James Renwick which was dated 1662-1688 Scottish Coventer during the reign of King James II of England and VII of Scotland 1685-1689 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.