Is it true that the name "Keith" originally meant that the individual so named was from a town in Scotland?

Answer 1

Origin and Meaning of the Name Keith

The boy's name Keith is pronounced keeth. It is of Scottish and Gaelic origin, and its meaning is "woodland, forest." The family name of hereditary earls marshals of Scotland from the 11th century. Baseball player Keith Hernandez; Rolling Stone Keith Richard; actor Keith Carradine.

Keith is a very popular male first name, ranking 59 out of 1219 for males of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census. Keith is a very popular surname, ranking 577 out of 88799 for people of all ages in the 1990 U.S. Census.

To answer your point about the town, here is some information:-

Keith is a small town in the northeast of Scotland with a population of around 5000. It is part of the Moray council area, but was historically (until 1975) in Banffshire (this use persists in postal addresses). It is divided into two main sections, Keith, which is the new town, and Fife Keith, which is the older section. Newmill, a short distance from the main town, is also an attempt at a planned village.

The oldest part of the town dating back to around 1180. The main part of the town today is on higher ground above the river, laid out in 1755 by the Earl of Findlater. It is located at the crossing of the A95 and A96 roads. It has a several local services including a Health Centre, Dentist, Optician and multiple Hairdressing Salons. The town is home to three schools: Keith Grammar School, Keith Primary School and St Thomas RC Primary School.

I suppose it is feasible that people have been named after the town although traditionally it would be as a surname rather than a Christian name, ie like Abraham Lincoln, Irving Washington, Julie London etc. However considering the small size of the town as compared with the popularity of the name it is unlikely that people were named after the town but possible the town was named after a chieftain or the earl marshall at the time named Keith.

Answer 2

It all depends on what reference book you look at,the name keith can be a first name or a surname,it is scottish,and in gaelic it means keth,woodland,

Answer 3

The name is Scottish and it means Battle Place.