The English surname Key, also found in Ireland and Scotland, derives from a number of different sources. Firstly, it may be an occupational name for a maker of keys or for someone who held the office of key bearer, deriving from the old English pre 7th Century "coeg" meaning "key". Secondly, it may be a topographical name for someone who lived by a wharf or was employed on one, deriving from the middle English, old French "Kay(e)", meaning "quay". Thirdly, it may be from the middle English given name Kay of Celtic origin from the old Welsh "cai" meaning "corn", which was borne by the boastful foster-brother of King Arthur. One Cecilia de Kay (1199) is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire and Adam Kay (1218), "The Assize Court Rolls of Yorkshire". One Margaret Key, aged 20, sailed from Liverpool aboard the Queen-of-the-West bound for New York, on April 11th 1846.

KEY RAISED FAMILY CREST RING