Kindred
An uncommon surname that may have begun as a nickname or as a shortened form of an old personal name linked to kinship or noble counsel.
The #7,026 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,822 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Kindred is obscure and appears in older surname books more as a guess than a settled explanation. One line of thought connects it with an early personal name such as Old English Cynered, made from elements meaning “kin” or “royal” and “counsel,” though that would make the modern surname a later development from a baptismal name rather than the everyday word “kindred.” Another possibility is that it was influenced by the common noun kindred, meaning “family” or “relations,” but the historical evidence in the excerpts does not firmly support that derivation.
History
The name is rare in modern records and does not have a single well-established medieval trail in the sources provided. Nineteenth-century surname scholars sometimes grouped it with names built from early Germanic personal names, especially forms like Cynered, while others tended to treat similar-looking names as nicknames or shortened forms. Because the evidence is thin, the surname’s exact origin remains uncertain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The modern English word kindred has long been associated with family ties, but that attractive meaning may be misleading here: the surname may instead come from an old personal name.
From the historical record
“Rolls, &c. Tlie nunc is derived by H. de Greville (v. Lower's Pstr. Brit.) from some kindred word to farrier, O.F.fimr, to shoe ■ hone; Abn de PerDO, London, 117}. A. SUfben k Fena, Loadon, ib^d. Henry k Fefxw, London, ibid.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances