One place in the K&A papers it mentions that the original name in Germany was Keim. It said that in all cases where they had written papers the name at the top of the page would be spelled in various ways, but in all cases at the bottom of the page where it required a signature it would be signed Keim. It said the various spellings was due to the ignorance of the clerk doing the interview. In the case of my family - My father's side of the family were definitely German. They spoke the German language. The oldest papers that I have seen that are authentic, the name was signed Henry Kime, who died in Bath County, VA in 1802. He is my third great grandfather. My second great grandfather went by the name of Valentine Kime. His son, Valentine, signed his name Valentine Kimes. That spelling of the name is the way the present day family spells it. A son of Henry Kime spelled his name Conrad Kyme, but I think his descendants (at least some of them) signed their name Kime. It makes doing genealogy interesting. Virginia Kimes Pierce [email protected]