The family trees on this site contain over 283 family names 3188 separate people records with 149 
photos. Within its pages you will find many interesting people, Bus Company owners, Mill Managers, 
Birdhole of Bury residents, owners of Entwistle Hall, Turton and surrounding areas.  Others up & 
down the line of ancestry branches  are jewellers/silversmiths,  a cotton mill owner of Wapping 
Street, Darwen and apparently a bit of a rogue, an influential family of  paper mill and paper 
printing owners, councillor and Mayor of Darwen, a Coach Builder who became Co Founder of Blackburn 
Rovers Football Club, Co Founder Football Leagues,  Referee FA also known as the “Prince of 
Referees”, International referee, Boot & Shoe manufacturing, Mayor of Horwich, right down to the 
present day.  Here you find the owners of the prestigious jewellers BOODLES (Boodle & Dunthorn), 
the Principal of the prestigious Langlands Boarding School, Chitral, Hindu Kush, Pakistan near to 
the border with Afghanistan who also teach girls thus suffering from sexual and racial tensions 
that exist in the area at present and best selling writer and international journalist.  A Priest 
with a 1600 square kilometre parish in Australia, land owners in Canada Australia and Kenya, the 
first family to grow pineapples in Kenya supplying the once famous Delmonte brand and all the tea 
that PG Tips could take, the person who established the first artificial ice plant in Williamstown, 
Massachusetts, USA, and many more.
Surnames or last names 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.

ORIGINS ETC OF THE SURNAME of KAY and CARTER KAY

A study into the most common names in Britain revealed that Bolton has more people called KAY than 
in any other place in Britain and coming in at 333rd in the list of common names. Originally an old 
Norse name, its definition is a key-maker or key-bearer, or it can be used to describe someone 
living by a wharf or quay "Gaius”.

Pre 7th century word "caeg" meaning key. It has also a Celtic origin from the Welsh "Cai" or the 
Cornish "Key" a name borne by the boastful brother of King Arthur legend.  Again it could be from 
the Old Norse "ka" meaning Jackdaw and hence used to describe someone who bore a fancied 
resemblance to a bird. Finally it may the nickname for a left-handed man, from the Danish "kei" 
meaning left which was borrowed in the 13th century into the dialects of Lancashire and Cheshire.
The name has been found in the Pipe rolls for Northumbria where Britus Filius Kay is recorded 
in1199.  Cecilia de Kay in the Pipe rolls for Gloucestershire in the same year.  London Pipe rolls 
of 1207 records a John del Cay and it is more than likely that the name was well established in 
Britain long before the Norman Conquest.

Some of the first settlers in Virinia, America in 1677 James Kay; Johnathan Kay, a Minister who 
arrived in Maryland in 1711; Edward Kaye received a land grant in Virginia in 1724.

SOME FAMOUS KAYS
Alan Kay, American computer scientist and visionary
Alexander Kay, British television presenter
Andrew Kay, American computer company CEO
Antony Kay, English footballer (see also Tony Kay below)
Barry Kay, Australian ballet designer
Beatrice Kay, American actress
Ben Kay, English rugby player
Bernard Kay, British actor
Billy Kay, Scottish writer
Chris Kay, American wrestling referee
Connie Kay, American jazz drummer
Crystal Kay, J-pop singer
David Kay, American scientist
Dianne Kay, American actress
Doug Kay, football coach
Elizabeth Kay, British writer
Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian fantasy writer
Hadley Kay, Canadian voice actor
Ian Kay, British convicter murderer
Jackie Kay, British poet and author
James Ellsworth De Kay, American zoologist
James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, British physician and politician
Jason Kay, British singer Jay Kay (Jamiroquai)
John Kay, one of several people including
John Kay (flying shuttle) (1704–1780), English inventor of textile machinery, notably the flying 
shuttle
John Kay (spinning frame) (17??–17??), English developer of textile machinery, notably the spinning 
frame (not the same as John Kay immediately above)
John Kay (caricaturist) (1742–1826), Scottish caricaturist
Sir John Kay (judge) (1943–2004), British High Court judge
John Kay (musician) (1944– ), musician and lead singer of Canadian rock band Steppenwolf
John Kay (poet) (14th century), English poet laureate
John Kay (economist)]] (1948– ), Scottish economist, Financial Times columnist and author
John Kay (journalist) (1944– ), British journalist on Rupert Murdoch's The Sun
Johnny Kay, Johnny Kay of Bill Haley & the Comets was a stage name. His birth name is John Kaciuban,
and is of Ukrainian origin.   
Joseph Kay, British economist
Karina Kay, American porn actress
Kathie Kay, Scottish singer
Kay Kay, Indian playback singer
Kelly Kay, British model
Lesli Kay, American actress
Lily E. Kay, historian of science
Marshall Kay, American geologist
Melody Kay, American actress
Michael Kay, American radio personality
Neal Kay, British DJ
Norman Kay, British composer
Paul Kay, American linguist
Peter Kay, British comedian
Ray Kay, Norwegian film director
Steven M Kay, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Rhode Island and a leading 
expert in signal processing.
Sonny Kay, American record label owner
Sumela Kay, Canadian actress
Susan Kay, writer
Tess Kay, British television presenter Tess Daly
Tony Kay, English footballer (see also Antony Kay above)
Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baron Shuttleworth
Ulysses Kay, American composer
Vanessa Kay, American model and actress
Vernon Kay, British television presenter
William Frederic Kay, Canadian politician
CARTER
Carter This is an old ancient name, thought to be originally derived from the Celtic word "cairt" 
meaning "cart". It is an occupational surname for a transporter of goods, with an elaborate history 
and derivation. There are four sources for the word, from the Latin "carettarius", from "carrum"; 
from the Old Norman French "caretier", surviving in modern French surnames such as "cartier", from 
the Middle English (cart(e)", derived from the Old Norse "kartr" or the Olde English "craet" and 
finally from the Olde French "charetier", charioteer. All four of these sources have been merged to 
form the modern English surnames Carter and Charter.

Nicholas le Carter appears in the Oxfordshire Hundred Rolls of 1273. On September 6th 1549, Edmond, 
son of James Carter was christened at St. Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, London. The marriage of 
Elsabethe Carter and William Evans took place at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London on July 17th 
1553, and Agnes Carter was christened at the same place in January 1556. One Robert Carter was a 
passenger on the "Mayflower", the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers to New England in 1620.
A very early Coat of Arms granted to a Carter family depicts two gold lions rampant combatant on a 
black shield.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rannulf le Caretier, which 
was dated 1192 - 1193, in the "Pipe Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, 
known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199.