Kinsey

Kinsey is the transferred use of an English surname originating from an old Anglo-Saxon personal name. In fact, Kinsey comes from the ancient name “Cynesige” made up of the Olde English elements “cyne” meaning “royal” and “sige”meaning “victory”. Very few pre 11th century Anglo-Saxon names such as Cynesige survived the Norman Conquest of 1066 which brought about an abrupt shift in personal name adoption (Anglo-Saxons completely assimilated with some aspects of Norman culture). Cynesige basically survived in the form of a surname in the early 14th century (rendered as “Kynsei”). The 11th century emergence of surnames in England is generally attributed to the Domesday Book of 1086. The Book was the brainchild of William the Conqueror (who became King William I after his conquest of England); he sent his personal assessors to each of the English shires in order to appraise the material wealth of all the landowners (the feudal lords and gentry). As the population grew, the practice of using surnames spread to other stratum of society. Due to the high rate of illiteracy in medieval England plus the radically different dialects, the spellings and sounds of surnames evolved slowly over time. Cynesige became Kynsei, Kynnsay, Kinssee and Kinsey for instance. Kinsey should not be confused with Kenzie which comes from a Scottish-Gaelic name Coinneach and means “bright one”.