Romney - Rom'nie --Surname from English Gypsies? Romnichel. Romani.

 Many family tree roots, one main trunk perhaps, but many branchings.

Of all the branchings, which do we choose as our identity.

Does that conscious choice negate in any way 

the other branches we elect to ignore, 

in order to better ourselves.

Family trees. Romany surnames, see http://www.20000-names.com/gypsy_names.htm.

The Romnichels are a distinct group of Gypsies, with origins in England. Derivations include Rom'nie. Sounds similar to Romany, the term in older literature for Gypsies, or Romani. Or Romney.

They sound alike for good reason. Romana, Romney. Gypsy surnames dating from 1567, see, fair use from the PDF site,

"ROMANA/ROMNEY 1567-1623 (int) Shrophshire, Suffolk) (See Robert Dawson ARITF)",  from JJ Gypsy Index PDF.

See also Romney Marsh Gypsies, at  http://gogowhippet.com/wordpress/marsh/tag/gypsy/

We have an interest in geneology as it may or may not be evidenced in last names, for recreational thought, and here focus on the last name, Romney. The Gypsy Lore Society addresses the Romnichels or Rom'nie, at ://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html. .

Actual Romneys may well have their own family tradition of origins, but the name Romney - Rom'nie standing alone suggests English Gypsy roots: dealing in draft horses, horses for transporation, horse traders, basket makers and that term included making rustic furniture, and fortune telling.

See this Gypsy Lore Society site for description of this group and many others, along with the trades that the groups specialized in: Scroll down to Romnichel. The information is from a further book's introduction, "Gypsies and Travelers in North America: An Annotated Bibliography," by William G. Lockwood and Sheila Salo, that book linked at ://www.gypsyloresociety.org/books.htm.

Update - here is a young man in Kent, England, who identifies as a "romney gypsey" in a message board entry dated 1/29/06 at ://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/have_your_say/community/romany_voices_archive21.shtml.

Compare the Rom. The Rom were Gypsies not from England, but from Serbia, Russia, and Austria-Hungary says the same Gypsy Lore Society site. Coppersmiths, including "repair and refinement of equipment used in bakeries, laundries, confectionaries...." They also told fortunes. The Kalderash are a Rom subgroup.

The "Black Dutch" group of Gypsies has largely been absorbed into the Romnichels. Same Gypsy Lore Society site, scroll down to "Black Dutch." This group was from Germany, but the term is also used for other non-Gypsy groups apparently. Again, horse traders, basket makers, and many provide to the Mennonite and Amish communities. See Pennsylvania Dutch. Hard to get reliable info on "Black Dutch," says site.

So: the papers already have found an ancestral link between Vice President Cheyney and Senator Barack Obama, ://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/view.bg?articleid=1040896, and this adds a possible Mitt Romney to the ancestral Rom'nies.
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In a name. See ://website.lineone.net/~rtfhs/gypsy.html
Other Romani first names: Dangerfield, Cinderella, Britannia, Sabina 9those Sabine women?)
And surnames: Lee (Gypsy Rose Lee?), Ayres, etc. and the site notes that all with those names are not Gypsies, just that Gypsies with those names traveled in England. At Geneology Forum you can join the fray in searching for answers with probably no way of checking what you get. Still, recreational.

Roma groups in Europe, Migrations: languages, self-identification

• These groups are listed here ://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/museletters/blCZmuse106.htm - scroll down to Romani literature section). Some other groups were added later, when found.

• References are to that Museletters site, unless you see this one specifically listed://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html.

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North American Gypsies/ Travelers - immigration to the United States probably from 1850 on

Travelers - Irish or Scottish. In Ireland, they are known as Tinkers. See description of The Gypsy Lore Society at //www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html. Irish Travelers and Scottish Travelers do not refer to themselves as Gypsies. They had different customs before migrating to US. and apparently keep a social distance

Gypsies - All others. In current works, the term Roma or Romani may be preferred

Black Dutch see Rom'nies. See ://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html.

Ludar-"Rumanian Gypsies" see www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html

Hungarian - Slovak musicians - linguistic prehistory similar to Rom/Romnichel, but difficult for each to understand each other now

Romani - plural noun; used at site to mean all the dialects and languages

Roma - singular, but not always, see it as plural in a Rom subgroup language ://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html

Rom - see www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html. From Serbia, Russia, Austria-Hungary

Romnichel - Groups stress importance of pure, impure, Gypsy-NonGypsy. Linguistic prehistory similar to Hungarian-Slovak musicians. See Gypsies, Roma, Romney surname from Rom'nie or Romnichel?.

Rom'nies. See ://www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html. English Gypsies. See Gypsies, Roma, Romney surname from Rom'nie or Romnichel?.

Sinte - subgroup of Roma, perhaps from Pakistan. Start with Wikipedia, then doublecheck: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinti_

They apparently went to Germany and Austria in middle ages, and split into two groups, the Eftagarvja, The Seven Caravans, who went into France and became the Manouches; and the Estraxarja, another group "from Austria, " moving into Croatia, Romania's Transylvania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, northern Italy, Piedmont. Language - see //www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rmo. Sinte is listed as a language of those countries.

See what the language looks like here, in many dialects: this happens to be the Lord's Prayer - I not go looking for it. At ://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-rom-sinte.html. The Rosetta Project seeks to archive every single human language. See it and Sinte at ://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/rmo.

Kale
Lovara
Curara
Xoraxane
Sinti (see Sinte above?)
Manus

Kalgeras (is this the Kalderash that is a subgroup of the Rom? See www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html. )
If this is the Kalderash, they include the Vlachs, Vlax, also called Nomad Coppersmiths

Machwaya - another subgroup of the Rom, see www.gypsyloresociety.org/cultureintro.html.

Sinte in German and Dutch - Zigeuner (this in Wikipedia at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinti_ ) - there was a piano piece called Zigeuner - remember?
Sinte in Italian - Zingari -Wikipedia at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinti_