Chance

Variations – Chauncy, Chauncey, Caunce, Chanceau, Cance, Chanzy, Kensall
Racial Origin – English and French
Source – A given name or a tribal name.

When the Anglo-Saxons came to England, following the fall of the Roman Empire, And drove back the Britons into Wales and Cornwall, they brought with them an organization that was loosely tribal in form.

In some cases the tribal names that were used, and which have survived principally in names of places settled, were formed on the spot, after the name of the chieftain of the band.  In other cases, and by far the majority, they were brought with them from their old Teutonic homes of the Continent.  It was typical of these Anglo-Saxon tribal names that they ended in “ingas,” and their counterparts are to be found in many sections of Germany today as place names.  The German tribal name ending was “inga.”

Kensington, from the Anglo-Saxon “Censingaston” or town of the “Cenesingas,” or followers of the “Cenes,” is a place name in England.  In Germany is found Keningen in Baden and Gensingen in Hesse-Cassel.

The family names in this group appear to have been developed as patronymics from the same given names from which these tribal names were developed.  For the most part they came through the Norman-French (who were Teutonic in blood and in their nomenclature if not in softening introduction of the “h.”  Kensall, however, appears to be a straight development from the diminutive of the Saxon name.  Chanceau, Cance and Chauzy are family names that have developed in France.