Meaning and Origin of: Keith

Keith is of Irish and Scottish origin meaning "from the battleground."

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Irish : Warrior descending
  • Scottish : From the battleground
  • Welsh : Forest

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

  • Scottish : habitational name from the lands of Keith in East Lothian. In the 17th century numerous bearers of this name settled in Ulster.
  • German : nickname from Middle High German kīt ‘sprout’, ‘offspring’.
  • George Keith (c. 1638–1716), born at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, came to NJ in or before 1685. In 1689 he settled in Philadelphia, where he became headmaster of the school now called the William Penn Charter School. He came into sharp collision with the Quaker leaders in PA and formed a separatist party known as the Christian Quakers, popularly known as ‘Keithians’.

Famous people with this first name

Famous people with this last name