This name is of Welsh locational origin from Kilford, an old estate in Denbigh, south of Cotton Hall. Reference is made to the manor of Kilford in "Records of Denbigh and its Lordship", dated 1334. The name is believed to derive from the Welsh "cil" meaning a corner or recess, plus the Olde English pre 7th Century "ford", hence, "ford by a recess". The surname from this source is first recorded in the mid 14th Century, (see below). In 1556, one, George Kilforde was entered in the Oxford University Register. The name, with variant spellings Kyllford and Killford, is particularly well recorded in Church registers of Shropshire and Cheshire from the mid 16th Century. On June 22nd 1568 Anna Kyllford, an infant, was christened in Worthen, and on August 12th 1570 Elizabeth, daughter of Alan Kilford, was christened in Worthen, Shropshire. On March 12th 1627 Margaret Killford and Thomas Crumton were married in St. John the Baptist Church, Cheshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Kilford, which was dated 1351, in the "Records of Hope", North Wales, during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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