Kingsley

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A personal name of English origin, used as a surname or as a first name for both men and women
2. An English-origin given name or family name, borne by notable people such as the author Charles Kingsley
3. A proper name of English origin functioning as a surname or a masculine first name in English-speaking countries

Etymology: "Kingsley" is an English surname and given name built from two Old English elements: "cynges," the genitive (possessive) form of "cyng," meaning "king," and "lēah," meaning "wood" or "clearing." Put together, the name means "the king's wood or clearing," a place that once belonged to a king or was held under royal authority. The pattern is a familiar one. Many English place names ending in "-ley" or "-leigh" come from "lēah," which in the landscape of early England referred to an open space in a forest as much as to the trees themselves. A name such as Kingsley would have started as a description of a particular spot, and over generations it hardened into a family name carried by people who took it from the land where they lived or worked. Because the name began as a location, its meaning is literal rather than figurative. Nothing about it is a personal invention; it simply records who once held a particular patch of woodland.