The surname King is of English origin.In the Old English the name was ‘cyning’ which originally meant a tribal leader,from the Old English ‘cyn’ tribe and the Germanic suffix ‘-ing’.The word was already used as a byname before the Norman Conquest,and the nickname was common in the Middle Ages,being usually applied to someone of ‘kingly’ qualities or appearance or was a pageant name for someone who took the role of a king or the ‘king of misrule’.In some rare cases the name was given to someone who had served in the king’s household.From this given name we have today the surname of King.In Ireland the name has been used as an anglicisation of several Irish Gaelic names in the mistaken assumption that they contained the element ri,meaning ‘king’.People of Jewish descent have also adopted the name as an anglicization of a like sounding Hebrew name,Konig.Someone with the surname King is not of royal descent.The surname in its modern form dates back to the twelfth century were a Hamond le King is recorded in historical archives.One of the first fo…
Coat of arms: Sable,on a chevron bet…