The Knight family in Our Kentish Genealogy
Knight Origins
There are approximately 80,146 people named Knight in the UK. Approximately 1,268 out of every million people in the UK are named Knight.
"This is a medieval status name from the Olde English pre 7th Century "criht", meaning boy, youth or serving lad, later extended to mean a tenant bound to serve his lord as a mounted soldier and therefore a man of some importance and substance. Later still, with the changes in the social structure of medieval England, the term "knight", (Middle English "knyghte") meant an honourable estate conferred by the king on men of noble birth who had served him well. The "Knights" of today, however, are far more likely to be descended from a servant in a knight's household or from someone who played the part of a knight in a medieval pageant or won the title in some contest of skill. Early recordings of the surname from this source include: Walter le Knit (1200, Oxfordshire), William Knight (1221, Worcestershire), and John Knyght (1275, Suffolk). ... The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godefridus Niht, which was dated 1166, in the "Norfolk Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189." - The Internet Surname Database