This name is of English locational origin from a place in Cumberland called Kershope. Recorded as Creshop in the 1201 Pipe Rolls of that county, the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "caerse" meaning "cres", plus "hop" translating variously as "a piece of enclosed land in the midst of fens" or "a small enclosed valley". The surname is first recorded towards the end of the 16th Century, (see below). On August 7th 1599 Alice Kirsoppe married Richard Linwood in Hexham, Northumberland and on May 29th 1604 Sissala Kirsopp and Nicholas Hog were married in Hexham. The recordings in Cumberland are later. On August 23rd 1773 John Kirsop, an infant, was christened in Alston, and on February 2nd 1817 Thomas Kirsopp and Grace Smithson were married in Caldbeck. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Cuthbert Kirssop who married Isabell Anderson, which was dated November 21st 1585, in the "St. Nicholas Parish Register", Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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