This interesting and unusual surname is a variant of Kyme, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from two places so called in Lincolnshire. The placenames are derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "cymbe", a derivative of the Olde English "cumb", a vessel, tub, and denoting a depression in the ground. Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The placenames were first recorded as "Chime" and "Northchime" in the Domesday Book of 1086; the modern placenames are known as North Kyme and South Kyme. In the modern idiom the surname can be found recorded as Kyme and Kime. Recordings from Lincolnshire Church Registers include: the marriage of Anthony Kime and Elizabeth Cracroft on May 2nd 1558, at Burgh-le-Marsh, and the christening of John, son of Robert and Alce Kime, on August 15th 1641, at Pickworth. A Coat of Arms granted to a family of the name is a gold chevron between three gold crosslets, on a blue shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Philip de Kyme, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Lincolnshire", 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.