This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a place so called in Cheshire, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Cyna", a short form of the various compound names with the first element "cyne", meaning "royal", or, "Cena", a byname meaning "keen", "bold", or a short form of various compound personal names with this first element, plus the Olde English "worthing", enclosure. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a lace moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname dates back to the late 13th Century (see below), and William de Kenworthey was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of Cheshire, dated 1389. In the modern idiom the surname can be found recorded as Kinworthy, Kenworthy and Kenworthey. Recordings from Cheshire Church Registers include: the christening of James, son of Thomas Kenworthy, on May 21st 1654, at Mottram in Longdendale, and the christening of Sarah, daughter of Thomas Kenworthy, on March 16th 1655, at Mottram in Longdendale. Thomas Kenworthy, together with his wife, Ann, and daughter, Mary, who were famine emigrants, sailed aboard the "Roscius" from Liverpool bound for New York, in October 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Kenworthey, which was dated 1276, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cheshire", 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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