A Brief History of the Cunningham Name

The Scottish surname Cunningham is local in origin, being derived fom the name of the place where a man once lived or where he once held land. In this case, the surname derives from a place called Cunningham in the northern district of Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. The name is now widespread throughout Scotland and elsewhere, its old families having divided into many branches. It is even quite numerous in France, where it was carried at an early period by Scottish emigrants.

There are several variant spellings of the surname, including Cuninghame, Cunninghamme, Cunnyngham and Coninglants. It first appears in Scottish records during the twelfth century, when a person by name of Wernebald obtained the manor and vill of Cunningham from his feudal superior and adopted his name as his own. There are many subsequent references to the name in Scottish records, and its local origin is confirmed by the fact that many of these are prefixed by the proposition "de", meaning "of". In 1190 an Alexander de Kuningham was witness of the grant of Kirkbride Largs to the nuns of North Berwick and Sir William de Conyngham appears as dominus de Kylmawrus in 1370. William de Cuningham, vicar of Dundonald, was threatened with excommunication for intruding himself into the affairs of the Poor House of Polmadie in 1403