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origin
The Banks family name is of English and Scottish origin. It is a topographic name for someone who lived on the slope of a hillside or by a riverbank, from northern Middle English banke (from Old Danish banke).
other possible versions of this surname
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Re: William Banks of King & Queen County
John Sheftall is the keeper of the family history. However. I do know, from John's report to the Banks Family Association some years ago that Ralph Banks (now deceased) undertook a big Y DNA project in the early 2000s to sort out all of the Colonial US Banks family lines (that had living direct male descendants who could test). The result of this major project finally settled the question as to whether William Banks of King and Queen County, VA was descended from the Banks of Corfe Castle. They are NOT related, at least along the Y DNA line. They are related to a Banks line that settled in the colony of Massachusetts, although there is no indication they knew one another. Their British origins have not been determined. Further Y DNA testing in the UK would be the only way to prove the origin, assuming of course, that a direct male descendant still exists who is willing to test. The tricky part is the fact that emmigrants to the the Colonies have eight times more living descendants that non-emmigrants. Disease and famine in the UK were to blame for this disparity (I just took a Legacy Family Tree Webinar on this topic). Right now, I do not know of any records that exist for William Banks the immigrant to VA. It is possible, however, such records exist in the archives in London. Wars took a heavy toll on Virginia records and very few survive from the 1600s. None survive that give a clue as to William Banks' place of origin.