The Keynes family ( ) is an English family that has included several notable economists, writers, and actors, including the economist John Maynard Keynes. Family tree of modern Keynes family History The English surname Keynes is derived from a Norman place name, either Cahagnes (Calvados) or Cahaignes (Eure), which are documented as places of origin of people of this name or possibly also from similar placenames not so documented. The earliest documented person in England bearing the name was William de Cahaignes from Normandy who was born around 1035. Of another Norman William de Cahaignes (born around 1060 and probably his son), Katharine Keats-Rohan writes:- "Norman, from Cahaignes, Calvados, arr. Vire, cant. Aunay-sur-Odon. Major tenant of Robert, Count of Mortain (half-brother of William the Conqueror) in several Domesday counties. He was Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1086, and again in the early years of Henry I. His widow Adelicia made a grant for his soul to Lewes priory, with the assent of their son Hugh (Mon. Ang. v,14). His lands were divided between his three sons, of whom Hugh held the forest of Northamptonshire in 1129/30." Surname derivatives Surname variants include "Koine", "De Keynes", "Keynes", "de Cayenes", "Caynes", "Caines", "Cheyney", "Cheney", "Chaney", "Chaineis", "Cahaignes", "Casneto", "Caisned", "Casineto". Places in England bearing the name Keynes The following places were named after the de Cahaignes or Keynes family who held many manors in the years following the Norman Conquest: Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire Coombe Keynes, Dorset Horsted Keynes, West Sussex Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire (derived from the original Milton Keynes) Somerford Keynes, Gloucestershire Notable persons surnamed Keynes See Keynes (disambiguation). References Sources Keats-Rohan, Katherine S. B. Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166. 2v. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1999. External links placenames reveal ancestral residence Victoria History of the Counties of England: 'Parishes : Milton Keynes', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 401-405. Family trees Darwin–Wedgwood family