This interesting name is probably a variant of either "Twin" or "Tweine", the former deriving from the old English pre 7th Century "(ge)twinn", meaning two-fold, double (medieval English "twinn") and was a name given to one of a pair of twin, the latter is from the old English word "twin", which means thread or string and was a metonymic name used to describe a "twinner" or a person who makes string or twine, hence the surname itself described a person who was either a twin or a stringmaker. Edmund Twyn was recorded in the Close Rolls of 1407. Edmund Twyne was listed in the Feet of Fine of Huntingdonshire in 1422. Jone Twyne married Thomas Best at St. Lawrence, Pountney on December 8th 1567 while Mary Tween married Joshua Page at Willesden, London on August 7th 1800. John Twyune (1501 - 1581) was M.P. for Canterbury 1553 and 1554 and Lord Mayor in 1554 and had a son Thomas Twyne (1543 - 1613) who was educated at Oxford and Cambridge as a physician whose son Brian (1579 - 1644) made valuable collections on early history and antiquities of Oxford. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Twin, which was dated 1279, The Hundred Rolls of Cumberland, during the reign of King Edward 1, "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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