Knevitt Surname History

Origins Available:
England

The name Knevitt reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Knevitt family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Knevitt family lived in Kniveton, which is a parish in Derbyshire near Ashbourn. The name is pronounced Nifton.

Early Origins of the Knevitt family

The surname Knevitt was first found in Derbyshire at Kniveton, a parish, in the hundred of Wirksworth where "the manor of 'Cheniveton,' so called in the Domesday Survey, was from a very early period the property of the Kniveton family. " 1

"The extinct Baronet family descended from Sir Matthew de Knivetone, who flourished in that county temp. Edward I. " 2

The place name literally means "farmstead of a woman called Cengifu," derived from the Old English personal name + "tun." 3 "The manor of 'Merchenestune' [Mercaston] was for many generations the property and seat of a younger branch of the Knivetons, of Bradley, who were seated here as early as the reign of Edward III. William Kniveton was one of the baronets created by James I. on the institution of the order in 1611. " 1

"The incumbent resides in the Hall [of Ashwelthorpe in Norfolk], an ancient residence of the Knyvett family, moated on three sides." 1

Early History of the Knevitt family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Knevitt research. Another 390 words (28 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1290, 1440, 1471, 1480, 1485, 1486, 1500, 1510, 1512, 1515, 1535, 1536, 1539, 1543, 1544, 1549, 1558, 1569, 1579, 1591, 1600, 1605, 1616, 1622, 1649, 1652, 1655, 1671, 1685, 1687, 1689, 1690, 1693 and 1699 are included under the topic Early Knevitt History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Knevitt Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Knifton, Kniveton, Knyveton, Nifton, Knyvet, Knyveton and many more.

Early Notables of the Knevitt family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was

Sir Thomas Knyvett (also Knevitt or Knivet or Knevet), of Buckenham, Norfolk (c. 1485-1512), an English nobleman who was a close associate of King Henry VIII shortly after that monarch came to the thr...

Migration of the Knevitt family

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Knevitt name or one of its variants: John Kniveton settled in Virginia in 1738 (he also spelled his name Knifton).

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)