Kellett
A surname most likely taken from a place-name in Lancashire, originally meaning someone from Kellett.
The #9,267 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,887 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kellett is generally treated as a locational surname, from the place called Kellet in Lancashire. The place-name is usually understood as an old British or Celtic name, though its exact literal meaning is uncertain. In some older works the name is also discussed alongside other surnames formed from English place-names and occasionally confused with related-looking forms such as Kelly or Kellaway.
History
Older surname dictionaries place Kellett chiefly in Lancashire and the surrounding district, especially near the village of Kellet. The name appears in medieval records in forms such as de Kellet, showing that it was used to identify people by their place of origin. Later it spread more widely in England, and by the 19th century it is recorded in several counties and in some American census material as well.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers specifically noted that the name still had a strong hold in Furness and the district around the village of Kellet.
From the historical record
“parish in Wiltshire. KELLETT. Kellet, two townships in Lancashire. KELLY. KELLEY. The Kelleys were in old times resident in the parish of that name in Devonshire, and the Irish Kellys, now very numerous, bear the same arms. According to the genenlogy in B.L.G., the Kellys of Kelly " may look back beyond the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom