Kilpatrick
A Scottish place-based surname meaning “of Kilpatrick,” originally tied to parishes in Dumbartonshire and Stirling.
The #2,565 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,917 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kilpatrick is a habitational surname taken from places called Kilpatrick in Scotland, especially the parish names in Dumbartonshire and Stirling. The first element is usually linked to Gaelic cill, meaning “church” or “cell,” and the second to Patrick, the saint’s name. Older writers sometimes proposed other explanations, but the place-name derivation is the standard one.
History
The surname appears in Scottish records as a family name drawn from local landholding or residence near Kilpatrick. In Ireland, related forms such as Gilpatrick and Fitzpatrick reflect the same saint-name base in different linguistic and naming traditions. The name also spread in anglicized forms among Scottish and Irish emigrant communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Kirkpatrick and Kilpatrick are closely related surname forms: both point back to a church-name associated with St. Patrick, but through different local spellings and pronunciations.
From the historical record
“fordshire. KILPATRICK. A parish in Stirling- shii-e and Dumbartonshire. KILPIN". Perhaps a corruption of Gilpin, 179 KIN KILVINGTON. Parishes, &c., in cos. York and Nottingham.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom