Does anybody know the family history of the surname 'Keil'?

Question

Its Irish and Scottish. When my great-great grandparents immigrated, their name was misspelled "Kiel." It's been that way ever since. If you have any knowlege, or where to find it, I would appreciate it.

Answer 1

Hey D-Money,

One of the best places for you to go on the internet, would be GENFORUM. You can read postings form Keil families all over. And, you can post your own questions.

You can look in Family Search for records of death, census, pedigree. There are 368 records found in that web site. You need to spend time there.

You mentioned Irish and Scotish, below are some web sites to get records, here in the US, General Genealogy, and UK/Ireland/Scotland.

You can trace your 2nd Greats back too, if you know the misspelling. You can go to various imigrant sites, the most common being Ellis Island - the site is FREE, and lists all kinds of excellent information. For fun, I typed in Keil and found hundreds of entries. You need to register there, but as I said it is free. You get passenger manifest, with port of departure, town of origin, age at travel, passengers traveling with, great stuff.

Best of luck.

Answer 2

Surnames do not have a family history. Your ancestors with the surname do. The only way you can find your family history is by researching it and not get overly involved in names. Also understand very likely only one person in each generation you go back will be a Meiring. You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents and it doubles up each generation you go back. So your surname represents a very tiny part of your total ancestry.

Answer 3

My last name is Keil pronounced tyne same as yours my blood line is in fact German Scott and ire, so i did some digging the name actually comes from ancient celtic Ireland, during a war between Ireland and Scotland, some keils moved in with the Scots, then moved to Germany, then off course to America.

However, most of keil ancestors stayed in Ireland, though when brought England, the name, however, changed in spelling and pronounced Keil, Keel!

Answer 4

I know the name Keilen, and it's definitely German in origin.

Answer 5

I looked on Rootsweb.com the migration of people with the last name of Keil seems to be from Germany listed in Hesse-Darmstadt,Thuringia. I found this link for an Adam Keil looks like descendants still live in the area where he settled
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2523609&id=I0291

BEST OF LUCK!!

Answer 6

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=

Keil

German: from Middle High German kil ‘wedge’, ‘wooden peg’, hence possibly a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such pegs or for a wood chopper. Alternatively, it may be nickname for an uncouth or misshapen person (compare Keidel) or a topographic name for someone who lived on or near a wedge-shaped plot of land.

Altered spelling of German Geil, nickname from Middle High German geil ‘boisterous’, ‘mischievous’, later ‘horny’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

and

Kiel

German (common in the north of Germany and around Hamburg): in some cases probably a habitational name from the city of Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, but more likely a topographic name for someone living by a long narrow bay or area of sheltered water, from Middle Low German kil ‘wedge’, the word from which the city derives its name. Alternatively, it may be from the same word applied as a nickname to denote a crude person.

North German: possibly an occupational name for a ship’s captain, short for Low German Kilmester (Middle Low German kil ‘keel’, ‘boat’ + mester ‘master’, ‘skipper’). Kilmester is attested as a surname near Rostock in the 13th century.

German: from a pet form of the personal name Kilian.

Dutch: from Middle Dutch kidel, kedel ‘smock’, hence a metonymic occupational name for someone who make such garments or perhaps a nickname for someone who habitually wore one.

Dutch: habitational name from a place so named in Antwerp or from the German city (see 1).

Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Kil.

Polish (Kiel): from kiel ‘tooth’, ‘fang’, hence a nickname for someone with bad or protruding teeth.

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
has 19 people with surname KEIL and birthplace containing "Scotland", 0 with BP containing "Ireland". I didn't check "Kiel", or marriage place or death place or the abbreviations "Scot" or "Ire", because I wanted you to have some of the fun.

Answer 7

not off the top of my head :)

try a google or yahoo search