Quixley

This unusual and interesting name is a dialectual variant of the locational name Whixley, a Parish in the diocese of Ripon, Yorkshire. This place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Cucheslage", and the name development includes "Quixeleia", (circa 1200 Yorkshire Charter Rolls) and Quixley (1379 Poll Tax Records, Yorkshire). The parish is now known as Whixley, and the derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Cwichelm" or "Civic" and "leah", a clearing, thus Cwic's place". On 31st October 1752, one John Quixley married Mary Miller at St. Luke's, Old Street, Finsbury, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Quixley, which was dated 2nd October 1681, St. Boltolph-without-Aldgate, London, during the reign of King Charles II, The Merry Monarch, 1660 - 1685. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.