This interesting surname with variant spellings Binney, Binny, etc., may be an English topographical name for someone who lived on land enclosed by a stream, deriving from the old English pre 7th Century "binnan ea" meaning "within the stream". Secondly, it may be a Scottish locational name from Binney or Binniehill near Falkirk, deriving from the Gaelic "beinn" meaning "hill" plus the local suffix "ach" "full of". Finally, it may be from the old English locational name "Bynni". The surname dates back to the early 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include William de Binin (1243), the "Chronica de Mailros", William Bynny (1297) "the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire", and Ralph de Bynne (1317) "the Assize Court Rolls of Kent". Anne Bynny was christened on January 26th 1589 at St. Mary le Bow, London, John Bynnie married Mary Winkfield on July 20th 1606 also at St. Mary le Bow and Jannet Binnie married William Gowan on February 23rd 1778 at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Binay, which was dated 1210, "The Pipe Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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.

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