Recorded in the various spellings of Quimby, Quinby, Quenby, and Quemby, this is a locational English surname which originates from a village called Quenby in the county of Leicestershire. The village name and hence the surname is of 7th century Olde English origins, but with a later Danish-Viking overlap. The translation is from the words "Cwene-berg" and means "The Queen's Manor", although the "berg" was later transmuted to the Danish "bi" meaning farm. The first known official recording is that in the 1086 Domesday Book when it appears as "Queneberie" becoming Quenby in the records of the year 1242. Who the original Queen was who held this manor is unknown, but no doubt it was associated with the kingdom of Mercia. The recordings of the surname are much later and like most locational surnames refer initially to the lord of the manor. Whether the later nameholders are decended from him or whether they assumed their name when they moved elsewhere from the village, can only be decided by a full genealogical survey. Early examples of the surname recording include Jane Quenby, who married William Beech at St George's chapel, Hanover Square, London, in 1791, but the first known all recordings is that of Ralph de Quenebi, in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Huntingdon, in the year 1272. This was during the reign of King Edward 1st, 1272 - 1307.

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