Family name origins & meanings
- German : from Middle Low German kīl ‘wedge’, applied as a metonymic occupational name or as a pejorative nickname for a ruffian.
- German : possibly a habitational name from Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, from Dutch and Frisian kil ‘stagnant water’ (see Kiel).
- German : variant of Kühl (see Kuehl).
- German : from a pet form of the personal name Kilian.
- German : in Bavaria, a nickname for a fool, probably from Middle High German kīl ‘wedge’, used figuratively for a bumbler.