Kingsley originates in Old English and means "king's meadow". Initially, it was used as a surname and as a surname it functions until today, the famous bearer being the English actor Ben Kingsley, known from the 1982 film Gandhi. It wasn’t until the 20th century when Kingsley broke through as a given name as well, as would be the case of Kingsley Amis, an English novelist and author of Lucky Jim.