This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'de Comines'. This is the customary Norman derivation. I find no positive evidence in favour of the view. William Cumine, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, temp. David I, is said to have laid the foundation of what became one of the most influential houses in Scotland (Lower's Patronymica Britannica). Whatever be the origin, all the forms here given are variants of the surname Comyn.

Admund le Comyn, Norfolk, 14 Edward II: History of Norfolk.

Florentina Comin, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Peter Comyn, Wiltshire, ibid.

Stephen Comyng, Essex, ibid.

Thomas Comyn, Gloucestershire, ibid.

Alexander Comyn, Oxfordshire, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

David Comyn, Northumberland, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

William Cumyn, Wiltshire, ibid.

1642. Baptised — Sarah, d. Christopher Cummins: St. James, Clerkenwell.

1698. Robert Comins and Mary Henley: Marriage Lic. (London).

1708. John Comyns and Elizabeth Court, hope: ibid.

1764. Married — Thomas Hendy and Mary Comming: St. George, Hanover Square.

CUMMING, Cummings, Cuming, Cumine, Cummine: The once powerful family of Comyn or Cumyn are believed to have come from the town of Comines near Lille on the frontier between France and Belgium, though there is no positive evidence in favor of this view. The name is always written without 'de' in early Scots records. Andrew of Wyntoun's account of the origin of the name is quaint and amusing if not trustworthy. He tells us that of

", thre breber of Normondy,

Faire joung men and rycht ioly,

In Scotland baid be joungest brober,

William wes his proper name

Thus duelt he with be King Williame,

The quhilk saw him a faire persoune;

Forthy in gret effectioun

The king ban had bis, ilk man

For vertu he saw in him ban,

He maid him, for he wes stark and sture,

Kepare of his chalmer dure

Na langage couth he speke clerely,

Bot his avne langage of Normundy;

Neuerbeles jit quhen bat he

Wald opin be dure to mak entre,

'Cum III, cum III,' ban wald he say,

As he herd ober bid perfay

Be bis oiss bai callit him ben

William Cumyn with all men."

Wyntoun, book VIII, c. cxxxix

The first of the name connected with Scotland is Willelmus Comyn, a churchman, chancellor to David I. He was promoted to the bishopric of Durham by the Empress Matilda, but had many controversies with his clergy. Later he was poisoned by some of their number who mixed poison with the wine of the Sacrament and give it to him to drink. Richard Cumyn, second of the name in Scotland, made a gift of the church of Lyntun-ruderic (Linton-Roderick) to the Abbey of Kelso for the weal of the souls of Earl Henry (d. 1152) and his own son, John (Kelso, 274). He also witnessed charters by William the Lion after 1165 (REM., I, 2). By his marriage with Hextilda, granddaughter of Donald Bane, king of Scots, he had a son, William, who became chancellor and great justiciary of Scotland. William married Marjory, daughter and heiress of Fergus, the last Celtic earl of Buchan between 1211—24, and in right of his wife became earl of Buchan. Through other fortunate marriages the family "obtained, for a time, the earldoms of Angus and Athole, so that, by the middle of the 13th century, there were in Scotland 4 earls, 1 lord, and 32 belted knights of the name of Comyn. Within seventy years afterwards this great house was so utterly overthrown that, in the words of a contemporary chronicle, 'there was no memorial left of it in the land save the orisons of the monks of Deer' (founded as a Cistercian monastery by William Comyn, earl of Buchan, in 1219)" (Chambers's Encyclopedia, s. v. Comyn). Simon Comyn, a native of Coldingham, had letters of denisation in England, 1463 (Bain, IV, 1336).

In the time of Gilbert Cumin, lord of the lands of Glenchearnach, it is said that many of the oppressed people from neighboring districts sought his protection. These he adopted as clansmen by a form of baptism using the stone hen-trough which stood near the casde-door. Cumins so created were called Cuminichclach-nan-cearc, or 'Cumins of the hen-trough' to distinguish them from the Cumins of blue blood.

A Gaelic rhyme anent the Cummings runs:

Fhad's bhios maide anns a' choill

Cha bhi Cuimearuich gun fhoill

(So long as there is a stick in the wood

There will not be a Cumming without treachery.)

Which the Cummings have rendered:

Fhad's bhios maide anns a' choill

Cha bhi foill an Cuimeanach

So long as there is a stick in the wood

There will not be treachery in a Cumming.)

(Wardlaw, p. 68n.).

This ancient family claim descent from the great house of Comines in France. They seem to have come into Britain at the Conquest, though they do not appear eo nomine in Domesd. Holinshed's list shows the name of Comin, and Leland's that of Comyn. According to the Scotch genealogists, Robert Cumine was earl of Northumberland by gift of the Conqueror, and acted vigorously against the Saxon insurgents. His descendant, William C. was lord-chancellor of Scotland temp, king David I., who ascended the throne in 1124, and he laid the foundation of what became one of the most influential and wealthy houses in Scotland. Courthope's Debrett. Other authorities claim for the family a Celtic original, chiefly, it would appear, on the strength of there having been an abbot of Icolmkill in the VI. cent. called Cummine, and another in the VII. named Comineas Albus. Dixon.

A corruption of Comeyn, anciently de Comminges, from Comminges in France. The badge of the family is the cumin-plant, and their arms are azure three garbs of cumin or. They are descended from John Cumyn, Lord of Badenoch, temp. Robert Bruce.