This surname is derived from an official title. 'the king." There are four columns of Kings in the London Directory. An explanation is manifestly needed. Our Kings are of no royal descent; nor yet is the title always a mere nickname, like Caesar, Kaiser, Emperor (which see), from the royal bearing or appearance of the original nominee. The entries are in this direct and plain fashion:

Hamond le King. Hundred Rolls.

Robert le Kynge. Calendarium Rotulorum Originalium.

Saher le King. Rolls of Parliament.

The Hundred Rolls (1273) also furnish a William Littleking. There is also a Roger Wyteking. Stature and dress will account for these. The fact is the progenitors of our Kings acted in that capacity in the numerous festival and mock ceremonials of mediaeval times. At Epiphany-tide the ('Magic Kings of the East') were represented in every village.

'Thy mummeries, thy twelfe-tide kings And queens, thy Christmas revellings.': Herrick.

Besides the king and queen enthroned on May-day (who would maintain their regal title through the year, at least), there was the familiar 'King of Misrule,' whom every great nobleman possessed. In the manor of Ashton-under-Lyne (1422) we find 'Hobbe the King,' and a festival to be held there is under the supervision of Margaret, widow of Hobbe the King, Hobbe Adamson, Jenkin of the Wood,' &c. (v. Three Lancashire Documents, Cheth. Soc). One more quotation will suffice:

'We, Adam Backhous and Harry Nycol, hath made account for the Kengpam (King-game) that same tyme don William Kempe, Kenpe, and Joan Whytebrede, Quen, and all costs deducted': Churchwarden's Accounts, Kingston-upon-Thames (Lysons).

'Queen' also existed as a surname, which see. That King should be so largely represented now simply proves that every town and village had its festival, and that the 'King' was proud of his title; so were his children. Thus it became hereditary; v. Kingsman and Kingson.

John le Kyng, Norfolk, 1273. Hundred Rolls.Stolen from Fore bears

Walter le Kyng, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Willelmus Kyng", 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1611-2. William Kinge and Elliner White: Marriage Lic. (London).

A surname of some antiquity and still met with in many parts of the country, Berwick, Fife, and Aberdeen. The first of the name recorded in Aberdeenshire is "Robertus dictus King" who bequeathed to the prior and convent of St. Andrews land in that shire which was the subject of a convention in 1247 between his brother's daughter, Goda, and the prior and convent (Sc. Peer., III, p. 588) family of this name were in possession of Barra or Barrocht in the parish of Bourtie from an early period, and in 1493 parted with a portion of the land (Inverurie, p. 103). John Kyng was burgess of Perth in 1421 (RAA., II, 56), James Kynge witnessed sealing of an inquest anent a fishing on the Tweed in 1467 (RD., p. 359), John King witnessed a sasine in 1495 and Patrick King the same in 1525 (Home, 26, 35). Adam King (d. 1620), a Scottish scholar Latinized his name Adamus Regius. Some of the proscribed Macgregors are said to have adopted this name.

(English) Monarch: a nickname and pageant-name [Middle English king(e, kyng(e, Old English cyning] Hamond le King.—Hundred Rolls

Usually an English name; but in Connacht it is widely used as an anglicized form of several names by pseudo-translation, viz. Conry, Conroy, Cunreen in Connacht, MacAree in Oriel, and even sometimes of Gilroy.

There is also a rare name Ó Cionga, now King, which belongs to Lough Ree. App. infra; IF 90, 91,296; Map see Conry

Pageant figure. Also house or inn sign.

(English) One who played the part of the king in a play or pageant; one connected in some way with the king's household.

A very common sobriquet in all ages and countries. Clasaical antiquity affords us the names of Basilius, Archias, Regulus, Caesarius, &c., borne by people who, as Camden quaintly remarks, "were neither kings, dukes, nor Cassara." There are plenty of Lerois in France, and Koenigs in Germany, who are of no royal descent, and it is only within a few generations that the ' Kings ' of England have emerged from a plebeian grade. The name may very probably have originated in those popular medieval pastimes in which Kings of the Bean-of May-of Cockneys-of Misrule held temporary sway. For their functions see Brand's Pop. Antiq. edit., 1842.

The primary sense is a head or leader. Gaelic, ceann; Welsh, cun and cwn, a head, a leader, Saxon, cyng, and nearly the same in all the Teutonic dialects.

Roger le Roi, William le Rei, Roger, Odo, Robert, Norm. 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae).

William, Gislebert, Roger, Gerald, Walter, Geoffry, Herbert Rex or le Roy, Normandy, 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); also Durand, Hugo, Peter, Ralph, Richard, Robert, Roger, Theobald, Walter, William Rex, 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Of these, Roger King occurs in Middlesex 1199 (Rotuli Curiae Regis); Adam and John Rex, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum). The great number of this name in Normandy explains the number in England. Hence the Earls of Kingston and Lovelace, and the Baronets King.

From the Danish, Kinck, Kink; a personal name.

King. —Mostly confined south of a line drawn from the Wash to the southern border of Shropshire. North of this line the name rapidly diminishes in frequency, being absent from my list in nearly all the counties thus marked off. It is rare also in the extreme south - west, in Devon and Cornwall. It is best represented in Beds, Bucks, Suffolk, and Wilts. The name is sparingly represented in Scotland.

The surname King has two origins. One is the Old English word Cyng, ‘a king’, which was used in Old English times as a personal name and may have given rise to a surname. The other, and by far the more common, is a nickname ‘king’ found in many villages in medieval England. Experts believe that the most common designation of the name was for men who governed the rituals of harvest-time in medieval villages. Sometimes these rites were celebrated with annual pageants and masques, where the same parts were often taken by the same individual year after year. Thus he who played the part of king often found the name attached to him.

Alternatively the nickname may have been an ironic reference to the overbearing, swaggering manner of someone in the village. Or it may have been used as an occupational name for someone in the King’s service-i.e. a servant of the King, a King’s messenger, or sometimes simply a tax collector.

In extremely rare cases, it is thought that the name King was given to an illegitimate offspring of royal descent. However, many authorities doubt whether this ever happened.

The surname King has many related names. Most of them are place names-given to someone who came from a particular place. The best known of these are Kingsbury (places in Middlesex and Somerset), Kingsford (Hampshire and Suffolk), and Kingston (the official name of Hull, and the town in Surrey).

Variants on the name King appear in many of the early records, but perhaps the earliest reference to the name as we know it is in the Pipe Rolls for Cambridgeshire. There in 1177 one Geoffrey King is mentioned.

Martin Luther King (1929—68) was the black American civil rights leader whose example did more to advance his people’s rights than any other of his generation. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but just four years later was killed by an assassin’s bullet.

British botanist Francis Ward Kingdon (1885—1958) discovered and began cultivation of the Himalayan blue poppy. In half a century of pioneering expeditions he made 25 journeys to the eastern Himalayas.

Unconventional Louisiana governor Huey Long was nicknamed ‘The Kingfish’ by his poverty-stricken adulatory followers, to signify his supremacy in their affections.

American politician John Alsop King persuaded the 1855 state convention of the Whig Party to adopt ‘Republican’ as the party’s name. It has remained that ever since.

William Mackenzie King (1874—1950) was Canada’s Prime Minister a remarkable three times during his 30 years as head of the Liberal Party.

President Charles King of Liberia was elected into office in 1928 by a massive 600,000 majority. It was an amazing feat in a country whose electorate was then just 15,000.

King takes pride of place when it comes to name-related towns, cities and geographic features. In all, 106 towns and cities in the United Kingdom are King-related. These range from Kingarth to Kingswelton and include 9 Kingstons and 7 Kingswoods. The US has 45 such towns and cities, Canada has 4, Australia 10, New Zealand 2, and South Africa 5. Kingston is Jamaica’s capital. Numerous geographic features bear the generic name or are named for specific kings (King George’s Reservoir, King Edward River, King Lear Mountain, King Leopold range, etc.) With about 136,000 namesakes King is the 34th most popular surname in England and Wales. There are over 7,000 Kings in Scotland where it is 98th in popularity. In Ireland it is estimated that with about 9,000, King is the 86th most popular surname. King is notably popular in and around Bristol where an estimated one in about 368 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Leicester, London and Coventry are other King strongholds. Around the world Kings are most common in Sydney (one in 499 families), Auckland (one in 520) and Wellington (one in 524). The United States has more Kings than the entire population of Bristol-an estimated total of just over 456,000 makes this their 28th most popular surname.