McBride - Bumpus Genealogy

  Anatomy  of  the  " K " Surnames

Origin - Meanings of Surnames beginning with " K "

                                               K E A G L E
 
Americanized form of German Kegel.
Kegel
German: from Middle High German kegel 'skittle', 'pin', hence a nickname for an inveterate skittles or bowls player.  The term also denoted an illegitimate child (hence the phrase (still current) mit kind und kegel 'with all the family') and in early New German (15th century) took on the meaning 'uncouth person'.

                                                  K E L L Y
 
(Origin Gaelic and Welsh) A grove, generally of hazel.  Kill or Cille, in the Gaelic and celtic, denotes a church.

                                              K E N N E D Y
 
From the Gaelic or Celtic words Kean-na-ty; the head of the house, or chief of the clan.  Ceannaide signifies also a shopkeeper, a merchant.

                                               K I E S T E R
 
Possibly a variant of German Kister.
habitational name for someone from Kist.
variant of Kistner.
from kirst, a pet form of the personal name Christian.
variant of Kuster 'sexton' (see Kuster)

                                        K I G H T L I N G E R
 
Americanized form of German Keitlinger, habitational name for someone from a place with a place with some such name as Keitlingen.
Keitlinghausen is the name of a place near Gutersloh in Westphalia, and may be the source.

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                                                       K L I N G E N S M I T H

Partly Americanized form of the German surname Klingenschmidt, an occupational name for a swordsmith or cutler, from Middle High German klinge ‘blade’, ‘sword’ + smit ‘smith’.

                                                         K N E E L A N D

​    Scottish and northern Irish: probably an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Nialláin

            (see Nealon).

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                                                     K N O X
 
Scottish, northern English, and northern Irish: from a genitive or plural form of Old English cnocc ‘round-topped hill’, hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a hilltop, or a habitational name from one of the places in Scotland and northern England named with this element, now spelled Knock, in particular one in Renfrewshire. The surname is also borne by eastern Ashkenazic Jews as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

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                                                  K R A U S E
 
German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : variant of Kraus.
from Middle High German Kruse 'pitcher', 'jug'; occupational maker or seller of jugs or nickname for heavy drinker.