Kensett Family History

From an unrecorded Middle English female personal name Kinseth, Old English Cyneswīð is a compound derived from Old English cynn ‘family kin’ + Old English swīð ‘strong’. This name has not been found in the medieval records of Hants or Sussex, so the post-medieval Sussex bearers cited below may alternatively belong with (2).

See Kingett and compare Thomas Kynsett 1610, Elizabeth Kinget 1641 in IGI (Birlingham, Worcs). There may have been confusion of Kingett with the names in (1) and (3).

Perhaps a colloquial pronunciation of Kingswood, a surname that historically has a somewhat similar distribution to that of Kensett and Kinzett.