What is the Origin of the Kinshott Surname?

As a child, I was told by my grandfather that the Kinshott surname comes from one of my distant relatives being the unfortunate nobleman who shot the arrow that killed King William Rufus while hunting in the New Forest. Although there are many Kingshott's still in that area, this doesn't appear to have much truth to it!

This link has an excellent description of the history of Kinshott as a surname. Below is a summary:

There are many variations on the spelling, even through the 19th century when general literacy levels increased greatly, however the earlier spellings were all variants of Kingett.

In previous centuries literacy among the poorer classes was almost non-existant. It was not essential, so, for the most part, the poor working classes did not learn to do it.

The Kingshotts' were almost exclusively agricultural labourers. There were a few farmers in there, some shoemakers and so on, but almost all were poor. There are man spelling variations due to names being spoken in strong accents and written down accordingly.

Example spelling of the surname are:

Kinshott, Kinshot, Kingshott, Kinchat, Kingshet, Kingshot, Kingshut, Kinchet, Kinchett, Kincheet, Kingeet, Kinget, Kingett, Kinggett and Kingit.

Fernhurst, in Sussex, seems to be the origin of all current Kingshott families.

My earliest direct Kingshott ancestor was John Kingett, who seems to appear in the Fernhurst area in the late 1500’s. He married, still in Fernhurst, in 1600 where he was described as "of this parish".

It is possible that there are links to the van Kinschot's in Holland. DNA analysis shows links to Scandanavia or Northern Europe.

There are is also a great article about the possibility of there being a Kingshott Village in the area around Fernhurst