Kingsly History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Kingsly came to England with the ancestors of the Kingsly family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Kingsly family lived in one of the places called Kingsley in Cheshire or Staffordshire having derived from the Old English word cyningesleah, which means wood or clearing of the king. 1 Thus, Kingsly is a classic example of an English polygenetic surname, which is a surname that was developed in a number of different locations and adopted by various families independently.

Early Origins of the Kingsly family

The surname Kingsly was first found in Cheshire where a "township and estate, the property of Sir Ranulph de Kingsley before 1128 was found. In the XVIII century the family divided into two branches, the younger continuing the name of Kingsley, the elder adopting that of De Aula or Hale." 2 Another early listing of the name was Adam de Kyngeslegh who was listed in East Cheshire. 3 Kingsley is a township, civil parish and a village in the parish of Frodsham, union of Runcorn. 4 It was first listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chingeslie. 5

One of the first records of the family was Kynsige, Kinsius, Kinsi or Cynesige (d. 1060), Archbishop of York "who, it is said, was brought into the world by a Caesarean operation." 6

Early History of the Kingsly family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kingsly research. Another 86 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kingsly History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kingsly Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Kingsly are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Kingsly include Kingsley, Kingsleigh, Kingslee, Kinsey and others.

Early Notables of the Kingsly family

More information is included under the topic Early Kingsly Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kingsly migration to the United States +

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Kingsly, or a variant listed above:

Kingsly Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Rev. Kingsly, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1851 7

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Lee, Sir Stanley, Dictionary of National Biography. London: The MacMillan Company 1909. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)