First found in Kent where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor of Romney, anciently Romenel. At the time of the taking of the Domesday Book, a survey of England initiated by Duke William of Normandy after his conquest of England, the village of Romney was held by a Norman noble, Robert de Romenel, and as was the Norman custom, the second son of the family adopted the name of the village.

To escape the political and religious persecution within England at the time, many English families left for the various British colonies abroad. The voyage was extremely difficult, though, and the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving. But for those who made it, the trip was most often worth it. Many of the families who arrived went on to make valuable contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. An inquiry into the early roots of North American families reveals a number of immigrants bearing the name Romney or a variant listed above: Thomas Romney who settled in Virginia in 1635; John Romney settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1767; George Rumney settled in Boston Massachusetts in 1766.

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