Kirkwood

Etymology

Kirkwood is a locational surname built from kirk, the northern English and Scots word for “church,” and wood, meaning “wood” or “forest.” It originally referred to someone who lived by, or came from, a wood near a church. In older surname books it is glossed straightforwardly as “the church-wood.”

History

The surname appears in both England and Scotland, and it likely arose independently in more than one place-name context. Historical surname dictionaries also note it as a local name, and later bearers made it a regular family surname rather than just a description of residence. The name remains most familiar in Britain and in diaspora communities descended from British emigrants.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Because kirk is especially Scots and northern English, Kirkwood is one of several surnames that preserve an old regional word for “church.”