This famous name is of German origin and is a dialectal variant of the name Kellner, an occupational surname for a person in charge of the wine cellars in a great house or castle. The derivation is from the Old High German "kelnari", a derivative of "kellari", the Latin "cellarium", and Middle High German "Kelnoere", meaning a cellar or storeroom. The modern German sense of Kellner, a waiter, is a comparatively recent development. In the modern idiom the variants include Kellert, Kellar(t) and Kel(l)ermann. Amongst the recorded examples is one, Thomas Keller who married Goodith Worley, on 16th December 1647 at St. Katherine-by-the-Tower, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Kylnere, which was dated 1292, in the "Middle English Surnames of Occupation", Lancashire, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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