Redknap Family History

From Middle English red ‘red’ + knap(p)e ‘boy servant’ (Old English cnapa), perhaps for a boy or servant with red hair or a ruddy complexion. Compare Johannes Redknave 1377 in Poll Tax (Rutland), from Middle English red ‘red’ + knave ‘boy servant’ (Old English cnafa), and see also Redman and Redhead.

Alternatively, perhaps from Middle English red ‘red’ + knap ‘hillock’ (Old English cnæpp), the surname may be topographical for someone who lived on or by a red hillock, or perhaps toponymic for someone from a place so named.

Place-Names of Warwicks p. 323 gives the unlocated name le Redecnappe, recorded in 1278.