Kiel
A German surname most often linked to the city of Kiel in northern Germany.
The #6,583 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,997 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as a locational name taken from the town of Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The place-name itself is ancient and has been interpreted in different ways by scholars, but for the surname the key point is simply “person from Kiel.” Because the name was adopted independently in different places, some bearers may have unrelated local or immigrant origins.
History
The form appears in 19th-century surname dictionaries as a German locational surname. It likely spread with migration from northern Germany into other German-speaking areas and later into English-speaking countries. In modern records it can also be encountered as a shortened or anglicized form of longer German surnames in some families.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Kiel is also the name of a major Baltic Sea port city that hosts one of Europe’s best-known annual sailing events, Kiel Week.
From the historical record
“KIEF. (Dan.) Brave, valiant, stout, bold. KIEL. (G-er.) Local Derived from the town of Kiel, in Lower Saxony. KERCHER. Gaelic, carcar; Welsh, carchar, a prison; Anglo- Saxon, carJc, a prison; carker, a jailor. KTERNAN or KIRNAN. Carnan, Gaelic, a heap; figura- tively, a strong man, a thick-set, stout man. Cearnan…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian NamesNotable people named Kiel
- Richard Kiel (1939–2014)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.