This is a dialectal variant of the interesting name Twin, which is a nickname surname for one of a pair of twins. The derivation of this natural sobriquet is from the Old English pre 7th Century "(ge)twinn", meaning twofold, double, a derivation of "twa", two, or the Middle English "twinn" with the same meaning. In the modern idiom, the variants include, Twine, Twyn(e) and Tween. One of these variants, one Edmund Twyn, is recorded in the Close Rolls of London in 1407, and in 1564 in the Register of Oxford University two variants are recorded in the form of Thomas Twyne, and Laurence Twine. In St. Benets, Pauls Wharf, London Records show that name in its present form with the marriage between Katherine Twinn and John Thompson on September 22nd 1653 and in St. Katherines by the Tower, London one Samuel Twinn married Elizabeth Lamprey on February 1682. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Twin, which was dated 1279, Hundred Rolls, Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Edward I, "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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