This name is of English locational origin from the place so called in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Under the form Colingauuorde it is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) and as Cullingwurth in the "Feet of Fines" (1235). The name Cullingworth comes from the Old English meaning "The Enclosure of the People of Cula". The word is a compound which can be analyzed in three parts. The first element, the personal byname Cula, probably derives from an original Germanic root "kul" with the significance of "swollen". The second element "Ing" in this position in Old English indicates the "sons or dependants of" and the third element "worth" means an "enclosure" or "homestead". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. Yorkshire church registers have numerous entries for the surname such as the marriage of Richard Cullingworth to Frances Musgrave at St. Peter's Leeds April 18th 1586 and the christening of one Agnes Cullingworth at the same place on September 1594. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Cullingwoorth son of William Cullingwoorth, which was dated 15th January 1538, christened at Monk Frystone, Yorkshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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