The name of the village - Cyne-tun, meaning the King's Manor - has its origins in Old English. It was spelt variously between the Domesday Book of 1086 and tithe maps of 1834. The Mandeville bit relates to a family coming from Normandy with William. In 1295, a brother holding lands south west of Yeovil regularised the arrangement for another brother, Geoffrey, to hold Kyngton. From this time Mandeville was added to the name, although family ties were brief: by 1275 grandson John was deemed to be 'of unsound mind' and the lands given to St John's Hospice in Wells.